Interesting
by Dragon with a Shotgun
Summary: There's a new mutant in town, but with no clue of why she was changed. Once a human with an almost perfect life, she is now a freak with a new body. Scared, she meets the turtles, who are so nice to her compared to the robots she'd been kidnapped by. She's not allowed to go home, or leave the lair. But Leo is more than willing to help, this interesting girl introduced in his life.
1. Chapter 1

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**I know, I know… I need to be working on my other unfinished stories and all… But once I have an idea for a new story or whatever, I have to write it and post it. XD I know there's at least one or two other people like that out there! Don't lie! I'll try to work on the others… but since I've gotten hooked on TMNT, it'll probably be a while before I can make myself work on my old stories, so you'll probably see a few new ones every now and then. Thanks for being patient! I don't own TMNT… Belongs to their creators.**

** New Mutant In Town**

Her heart raced as she ran down the alleys, her eyes wide in fear and confusion while her mind raced as she tried to put together what had exactly happened to her. She looked over her shoulders, and she could see that the robots were right behind her, so she quickened her pace.

Only days ago she was a dance instructor's assistant, working in a dance studio. She had lived alone in an apartment while her parents were living in the country, she had a car, she had a boyfriend, and she had been a normal human being with a life. But during the past week, she had been kept prisoner by these robots who called themselves the Kraang. They gave her shots and kept her in this kind of liquid, along with giving her air supply so she wouldn't drown. They didn't tell her anything, had only taken her off the streets and put her in the container. During that time in the lab, she could see herself changing physically. Her spine grew longer, out of her body even, and formed a long tail, her skin formed into some kind of tan-brown scales, her pupils contracted, and every now and then turned into slits, but always went back to normal. When she looked at her hands, web had formed between her fingers.

That was two days ago, when she was still in the container of blue goo. But when that giant alligator thrashed about and escaped only an hour ago, he had knocked over her container and she came tumbling out, a mutant of some sort, dazed and disoriented. She ran as fast as she could out of that place, and even though most of the robots went after that alligator, some gave chase and ran after her. But she had lost them, and after a few days, she had hidden from them.

But they had found her again. She was running down the alleys helplessly. She had no idea why they had done this to her, of who the Kraang were for that matter. What was she? Why was she like this? She may have been mutated, but she had her torn clothes still, her gray t-shirt and blue capris. Being the new creature she was, she was afraid to try to go somewhere to buy any more, so she was stuck with what she already had. Her shoes had disappeared, so she was barefooted with her now three toes showing. She still had trouble running with her now long tail behind her, swaying uncontrollably.

"Help! Help, please!" she cried out, but suddenly tripped over something that had gotten caught under her foot. She fell forward, hitting the pavement on her chest and having the air knocked out of her. She coughed, and tried to scramble to her feet.

A hand gripped her arm and yanked her up, and she cried out and tore her arm out of the robot's grasp. She then again tried to run, but another pair of metal arms snatched her from her feet, pulling her back and slamming her against the brick wall.

"You will not be escaping from us from the place that you have escaped that is the Kraang's laboratory which is where you escaped." one of the robots said, its purple eyes looking at her almost like slits. The way they spoke was confusing, and she didn't quite catch it. But she didn't care and she struggled all the more.

"Let me go!" she screamed, kicking her legs out and gritting her teeth.

"Hey, put the girl down! If you do, then we might not hurt you!"

The robots turned around to face the speaker. It was a green… turtle? She blinked her eyes, and as seen, it was a turtle, four of them in fact. Each of them wore a different color mask over their eyes, each with different weapons. Their eyes at the moment looked solid white, their faces twisted into that of aggression.

"Wait, we won't hurt them?" the one with the red mask blurted, giving the one with the blue mask a disappointed and non-believing frown.

"The Kraang does not take orders from those who are not part of the Kraang and obviously you are not of the Kraang so we will not be taking orders from you." a different robot said, and they tightened their grip on her. She gasped slightly, with one of the robot's hands around her neck she couldn't breathe, and felt herself becoming weak. She growled softly, and looked down. Suddenly feeling in the defensive mode, she let her tail wrap around on of their arms and pulled downward. The robot's arm let go of her, and she wriggled out of all of their grasp and fell to the ground. The turtles then lunged, and the fight began.

Leonardo, the one with the blue mask, pulled out his katanas and was already shredding into the first robot he came to, stabbing it with his katanas and flinging it away before moving to the next. Donatello, the purple-masked one, twirled his staff and was hitting one robot after another, sending them to the ground one at a time. Michelangelo, the youngest turtle with the orange mask, was laughing away as he swung his nunchaku at the robots, hitting them and throwing them off to the side. Raphael, the hotheaded, red-masked turtle was stabbing the robots with his Sais, pounding them with his fists and slamming them to the ground, seeming to have a great time doing so.

As quickly as the fight started, it ended. The girl opened her eyes, and she saw sparks on the robots as they all were on the ground, the creatures that had been controlling them from the inside crawling out and across the ground.

"Disgusting…" Raphael spat, kicking one of them when it ran in front of his feet, causing a pitiful and shrill shriek to erupt from it at it rolled across the ground.

"Aw come on, they're actually kinda cute when you think about it!" his younger, youngest, brother said as he bent down to touch one of them. But it shrieked at him and he yelped, jumping back behind the red-masked turtle.

"Guys…!"

The other three brothers looked at their leader, Leonardo, who was crouched down near the mutant girl. They all suddenly became interested, curious, and came closer cautiously. The girl… was reptile-looking, her skin actually scale-like and light brown with her chest lighter, a darker brown stripe reaching from her lower back to her tail and dark brown freckles dotting her face, her hair dark brown and her eyes light blue, and her long tail wrapped around her smaller fragile body. She looked up at them slowly, and suddenly, Leo's eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat and his jaw dropping slightly. The girl was actually quite pretty, but he shook his head and frowned with concern.

"Are you alright?" he asked softly, actually fascinated by her.

She took in a deep breath, nodding slowly. When she looked back up at him, her light, crystal blue eyes were filled with confusion and fear. But there was also curiosity, a spark that lit up her features as she gazed at their faces.

"I-I think so… Who are you?"

The turtles all considered not telling her. But now that they could see that she was, too, a mutant, maybe they could tell her. She was obviously scared to death and not sure of what was going on. It wouldn't be right to leave her hanging.

"I'm Mikey!" of course, Michelangelo piped up cheerfully as ever. He wore a happy expression, one meant to lighten up the mood and cheer the others up. The other three sighed, but decided to go along with it. Since he already said who he was, it would do no good to not tell her who they were.

"I'm Donnie." Donatello said calmly, putting on a soft smile to comfort her, and it was working at least a little bit.

"I'm Leo." Leonardo smiled softly at her. She liked how caring he seemed, he must have been the leader by the look on his face and his actions.

"I-I'm Raph…" Raphael was reluctant to speak to her. He looked like he didn't want to talk to her and didn't like the fact that they were talking to a stranger, and she thought he was a little intimidating.

She looked up at them, and she studied over their names and what they were. They were obviously turtles. But how? Had the same thing happened to them as to her? She looked down at herself, her bangs falling in front of her eyes. Her hands clasped in her lap as she sat on her knees, her tail twitching at the end.

"My name… is Abigale… But my friends call me Abby." she finally said quietly, her voice raspy and light but a little weak from having not spoken to anybody in so long.

Leo smiled brightly. "Nice to meet you, Abby. Why were those guys after you?"

She shook her head. "I have no idea. I was… They took me to their lab a week ago, and turned me into this." She lifted her hands, motioning to herself and sighing. "I escaped a few days ago and… well… I guess you can see what the result of all of that was."

The brothers passed each other curious expressions, frowning. It was like they were having a silent conversation, even argument if you looked at it in a certain way. Leo glared at Raph for a long moment, and the red-banded turtle rolled his eyes. But Mikey suddenly grinned and threw his arms up in the air.

"You can come back to our lair with us!" he said happily, his light blue eyes large and welcoming.

"Are you crazy? We can't take her back with us!" Raph snapped, glaring at him with his bright green orbs and gritting his teeth a little.

The younger ninja pouted, looking almost like a child. "But what about Leatherhead?"

"You gave us no choice!" Raph shouted back.

"Guys, I think we should take her back. I mean, look at her. She knows too much anyway." Leo said, motioning a hand toward her.

"Yeah," Donnie agreed. "It would be cruel to just leave her out here on her own. What would Splinter say?"

Raph was about to say something witty to the two, not liking the idea that they actually wanted to bring this stranger back to the lair. They had no idea who she was, or what she was for that matter, and he knew better than to just pick strangers up off the streets and bring them back just because they felt sorry for them. He remembered what had happened last time that happened. It was with a huge mutated alligator though, which Mikey named Leatherhead. That giant alligator had this aggression problem that he couldn't control, and he nearly destroyed the lair a few times in the same night! But he looked down at her, his eyes suddenly growing soft as he saw her face. She looked up at him for the smallest of moments, their eyes locking. She… didn't look like a threat, and she sure wasn't big enough for them to worry about. Plus, she was a female, a pretty one at that. He mentally slapped himself for thinking that. His heart went against his previous thoughts and actions. Maybe… it wouldn't be so bad. What threat was she to them?

"Besides," Leo was saying. "She could tell us what the Kraang are planning right now. Leatherhead had already told us what he knows, maybe she might know something else."

Raph tore his eyes away from hers. He was silent for a while, but finally sighed heavily and looked down at his feet.

"Fine…" he muttered.

So Donnie grabbed her arm gently and helped her to her feet. She gladly accepted his offer to help her walk, along with Leo on her other side. She wrapped her tail around her waist, helping her to keep from feeling too exposed to these new strangers who were being so nice to her. But suddenly Donnie stopped.

"I know we are trying to help you and all, but we can't risk you knowing how to get to our lair, in case you're actually a bad guy in disguise. So… you need to put this over your eyes." He held up a bandana, and she looked at it curiously, but shrugged and allowed him to wrap the cloth over her eyes and tie it at the back of her head.

So they came to the first sewer opening in the ground. It was in a darker part of the street, where most of the lights had gone out and where it was gloomy. Raph had already opened the circle lid and was dropping down into it.

Leo looked at the girl beside him, and smiled slightly. She stood there quite awkwardly, not sure where to step without tripping over something or bumping into someone. He was tempted to push a piece of hair that hung in front of her face over the band covering her eyes. But he shook his head and climbed down before he could let his brothers see his face change colors. He motioned for the other two brothers to let her down, and they carefully lowered her to him, dropping her down. He caught her with ease and sat her down and, now that they were in the sewers, slipped the blindfold off of her eyes. She blinked a few times, letting light pour in and adjusting to the new and actually much darker setting. Then she let Mikey grab her hand and pull her down the sewer line, leaving Leo if not a tad bit jealous on the way.

"You guys live down here?" she asked, looking around through the darkness, a little disturbed by the surroundings and where the place was. How could somebody live in the sewers? It was a bit gross to think of what was down here.

Leo shrugged casually, smiling. "Yeah, I know it's not the life of luxury, but it's better than not having a home."

She nodded in understanding, looking down at her feet. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

They came to an open area in the sewers, and she gasped at the technology that lit up the room and noticing how homey it looked. It looked like an actual home. There was a TV, a couch, lights, everything that you could just want if you wanted to live in a place away from other people. She actually forgot that she was in the sewers.

"Wow…" she whispered, gazing around at the place.

Mikey grinned. "Pretty cool, right? Home sweet home!" He plopped onto the sofa, crossing his legs and putting his arms behind his head.

Abby blinked, looking around. But as she walked, she bumped into something and she gasped at the person in front of her. It was a tall, mutant rat that had brown fur with some white and black markings and hazel eyes and was wearing a dark red robe as he gazed down at her. Her own blue eyes widened, and she curled her tail around her legs in a shy fashion. He was a little creepy with his eyes studying her.

"Um… hello…" she said quietly, timidly.

He nodded to her, but was frowning. "Hello, and who are you?"

Leo was suddenly at her side, a worried look on his face as he looked up at his adopted father. He knew how his Sensei was about bringing strangers into the lair, and he was hoping that he could somehow convince him that she was okay. "Um… Sensei, this is a new friend of ours, Abigale. We found her being chased by the Kraang, and we offered to bring her back with us."

The rat hummed in thought, and suddenly smiled softly at her to the blue-masked turtle's surprise. "Abby is your name? Well, welcome to our home. My name is Hamato Yoshi, but you can call me Splinter."

"Thank you… um… Splinter." She smiled warmly at him, shaking his hand.

"Tell me, why were the Kraang after you, Abigale?" Splinter asked calmly.

She told him what she had told the turtles, telling him about how they had taken her and mutated her with what Splinter said was Mutagen, turning her into this lizard like creature. He listened carefully to her story, nodding every now and then whenever she said something about the Kraang. In return, he told her who the Kraang were, and what they wanted. He told her about where they were from, and what they were, which were aliens from a different dimension.

"Hm…" he hummed. "It sounds like it has been a rough week for you."

They were now sitting on the sofa, her sitting beside him and Leo sitting on the floor watching _Space Heroes_, occasionally glancing back at her. Donnie was working on some tests. Because of Raph's suspicions of her, he decided to take her blood and run tests to see if she was what she said she was. He was looking at her DNA, to see who she was before the mutation and what she had been mutated into. But he added a comment every now and then whenever he felt like it during Splinter and Abigale's conversation. Mikey sat on the couch on the other side of Splinter, peeking around him to look at the female mutant. He looked like a toddler who was meeting a friend of their parents', curious of who it was but not having a reason to interrupt, surprisingly.

She nodded at Splinter's comment, smiling half-heartedly. "Yeah… I guess you could say that."

"But what are we going to do now that she is here?" Raph said, frowning at the rat as he punched the hanging dummy a little ways from the sofa.

Splinter held up a hand toward him in a calming manner. "We must watch over her, just as we do April."

Abby then had a worried look in her eyes. "But I have to see my family… I have to talk to my boyfriend, something! I can't just stay down here all my life, Splinter."

"Boyfriend?!" Raph blurted, but he had said it right when he had punched the punching bag and it came back and hit him in the side of the head, sending him onto his back on the floor. Abby cringed at the sound of the bag hitting him, and his brothers laughed quietly, trying to keep themselves quiet. But he sat back up, groaned in shock, and then frowned.

"Great, a whole new reason someone will come looking for her."

Splinter arched a brow at his red-masked son, but then frowned softly at the young teenager beside him. "Abigale, the Kraang will be looking for you, and if you go out there and find your family and… your boyfriend, then you will only lead the Kraang to them. You don't want to endanger your loved ones."

She sighed at his words. Now that she thought about it, she wasn't even sure if she would be able to convince them that it was really her. She could never make them understand what had happened to her. What would she say? "Hey, Mom, Dad, I was captured by some aliens and I was turned into a lizard." That would be one heck of a story… But she so badly wanted to see one of her loved ones, but at the same time she wondered how they would react to her appearance. Would they be scared? She was afraid of the thought that they would actually be scared of her.

"Okay, Splinter… I'll stay here…" she replied softly, sadness glistening in her crystal blue eyes, making them sparkle slightly more.

Splinter spoke softly. "I am sorry that all of this had to happen to you, Abigale. I wish I could do something more to help."

She forced a small smile to form on her face, and she wrapped her tail around her waist distractingly. "It's fine. I just have to get used to this new life I guess."

He nodded. "Make yourself at home. Do you mind sleeping on the sofa until we make room for you?"

She shook her head, now smiling brightly. "I don't mind. I actually used to always sleep on the couch at home."

Splinter went back to his room, leaving her and his sons in the living room by themselves. Mikey went to watching TV, Leo had grown bored of watching TV and was watching Donnie work on the DNA tests, and Raph was punching a dummy hanging from a rope again, feeling a little embarrassed about what happened a minute ago. She sighed with boredom, and looked down at herself. Her clothes being torn, she felt a little exposed. Even though she probably didn't need to worry about it, she couldn't help but try to cover herself up with her tail.

"Hey guys!" The boys and Abby looked toward the orange-haired girl strolling through the entrance and hopping down the steps. She looked about Abby's age, and was the same height. The turtles all seemed to perk up a bit, especially Donnie, who grinned in happiness. She smiled brightly at the ninja turtles, but suddenly frowned curiously at the brown mutant lizard and stopped when she reached the bottom step.

"Who's that?" she asked.

Leo smiled and walked up to Abby's side, putting a hand on her shoulder in a friendly way. She felt her face grow warm at the small gesture, but she didn't shy away from it. "This is Abby, a new friend of ours. We found her with the Kraang, and she's a mutant like us."

Abby offered a small smile to the other girl, who was studying her over. She felt awkward as the other teen studied her. But after a moment of awkward silence, the girl smiled and she walked over to the mutant and held out a hand.

"I'm April, nice to meet you."

Abby looked down at her hand, and studied it for a minute. But she took her hand in hers and gently shook it. "Nice to meet you, too."

"Wow, it's so cool to have another girl around her that's not trying to kill me." As she said it, she glanced at Leo.

He rolled his eyes unamusingly, and rubbed the back of his head. "Can we just forget about Karai?"

April put her hands on her hips, frowning at him but dropping the subject quickly as she turned her attention to the new girl. She seemed nice at least, had a bright personality and was willing to give her a chance to be a friend. Abby grew onto her quickly and was enthusiastic to have a new friend. She again told her story of who she was, how she came to be like this, and how she met the turtles. April was interested in every detail as they sat on the couch, but as she studied this new mutant, she then frowned.

"What?" Abby blurted, seeing that April was staring at her intently and in a thoughtful way.

The orange-haired teenager smiled. "Sorry, but you really need some new clothes."

Taken aback by the sudden advice from the other girl, Abby blinked at her for a moment. But she did look down at herself, again noticing the fact that the bottoms of her capris and shirt were torn.

"Yeah… I guess I do." she said meekly, showing a small smile.

April turned her around and pulled out the tag of her shirt. After a moment, she suddenly smiled happily and grinned at her new friend.

"Well, lucky for you, you're my size! Wanna go to my house to see if we can find you a different pair of clothes?"

The mutant lizard smiled warily. "I'm not really sure about going back out there again…"

April waved a hand at her. "Its fine, I'll just go get some of my clothes and bring them back. No sweat!"

So April left the lair, now actually leaving Abby a little lonely. The boys were all doing their own thing, so she wasn't quite sure of what to do. Bored and blank, she wandered into the dojo where all of the training equipment was and where an actual tree sat in the room. She looked around with amazement, her tail swaying with curiosity and her eyes large as she gazed at the tree. She walked over to the tree and touched it with her fingers, smiling softly for no reason really. She just liked the atmosphere, the lively feeling of the room. It felt comfortable to be here.

She sat down on the floor in front of the tree, curling her tail around her and sitting cross-legged. She sat her hands in her lap, and closed her eyes for a moment to let her mind settle with what has happened to her. It had all been so fast. She still wasn't sure of why it all had to happen to her in particular. She looked down at her hands. She lifted one, studying the webbing between her fingers and feeling how rough her skin was, but yet how it was so smooth. She grabbed her tail, examining it with fascination and wonder. It was so neat, but yet… Would she ever be normal again? Was she going to be stuck like this, a mutant, forever? Something nonhuman? What was she going to do for the rest of her life? What about her family, her friends? Would they think of her? If she went back, what would they think?

"What am I going to do?" she asked no one in particular, not that there was anyone else in the room to answer her anyway. Then her eyes wandered to the dummy that stood across the room. She stared at it for a minute, and she suddenly had an idea.

In the living room, Leo was actually growing bored in watching TV. He already knew what Donnie was doing, so he wasn't too curious about it. Mikey was reading comics and randomly laughing or screaming whenever he came to one of the funny or scary parts of the comic. Raph was back to punching the bag again. He sighed and let his mind wander, mainly about Abigale. He wondered what it was like for her to have a normal life go to changing completely and not so normal. Then out of nowhere, he frowned at the thought of her having a boyfriend. But when he realized that he got mad about something like that, he let out a deep breath. He hated that he had so suddenly found a liking to this new girl. He'd already gotten over Karai, had given up on her. He didn't want to fall in love with someone who was already in a relationship with someone else! He instantly decided that some exercise would do himself so good, and he could practice on his focus in battle and try to forget his previous thoughts. Maybe taking a while to train by himself in the dojo would do some good.

He walked through the doorway, leaving his brothers in the living room. He came to the doorway of the dojo and halted. He heard a loud yell, and one of the dummies was knocked over, but came back up and was hit again. The offender of the training dummy had a calm look on her face, her eyes soft but yet had a twist of fire in the sparkling blue orbs. She gave a final kick, and the dummy was completely knocked over onto its side so that it couldn't come back up again. He felt his heart hit the corner of the boxing ring in his chest just as the dummy slammed against the floor, the bell ringing and already hearing the referee counting down from ten. His eyes were widened as he studied the dummy on the ground. But when he noticed that she saw him and was looking at him, he shook his head and put on his casual small smile.

"Oh, I didn't know you were in here…" he said quietly, walking to the dummy and picking it back up and setting it down right just out of habit.

She smiled weakly at him, looking a little embarrassed with her tail curling around her legs and her arms clasping behind her back. "Eh… was bored and thought I'd practice some of my childhood karate."

One side of his mask rose as though he was raising a brow, his lip curving up in a half smile. "You used to take karate?"

She nodded meekly. "Yeah, when I was ten. Used to love it so much, had so much fun participating in it. I was in it for at least three years."

He smiled. "Really? You don't look like the fighting type."

She giggled, and he couldn't help but chuckle with her against his will. "Yeah, well, my mom actually made me take the classes because we had a guy break into our house. She wanted me to be able to defend myself so she put me in the classes."

He frowned for a moment, thinking about the reason she had taken karate, but then smiled softly. "Your mom? Well, you aren't that bad. When was the last time you ever did anything like this?"

"About three years ago."

"Huh! You're not too shabby at it."

She smiled brightly at him, her eyes lighting up. "Thanks! Actually… before I was put into karate, I really hated the thought of hitting someone. It's funny to think about when I compare myself now to then."

Then there was an odd silence, slightly awkward with neither of them knowing what to say next. She sat down on the floor, crossing her legs and resting her chin on her hand with her elbow propped up on her knee. He sat down across from her, not really making much eye contact with her. He knew how to talk to April, but this was a little weird. He didn't know how to talk to her. She liked fighting but what was there to say about it? He could talk to her about his style of fighting, show her a few of his moves. But as he looked back at her face, he could see that she may not be interested in the subject anymore. She looked like something was eating at her, or bothering her.

He suddenly remembered about her mentioning that she had a boyfriend. For some reason, he hated the fact that she had one, which was odd, because he never got upset over anything like this. Was he… jealous? No… he would never be jealous. Her having a boyfriend was her business, and he respected her for that? But then why was he feeling so aggressive about it? Was that why whenever he thought about her being with another man his blood began to boil? This was way too weird for him, but still… Was this how Donnie felt when he first saw April? No, not exactly. Donnie about had a heart attack. But… even still, he felt this feeling in his heart, that he wanted to be with Abby. Besides, he could see that she missed her loved ones though. He could see that in her eyes.

"Hey… Abby?" he started, catching her attention and making her look up at him. He paused in mid-thought, mesmerized by her expression before he forced himself to continue. "If… you wanna go see your boyfriend or whoever, I can take you there if you want."

Her eyes lit up, and she smiled hopefully. "Really?"

"Yeah. I know what Splinter said, but I don't think you should be here all the time wondering if they think about you or not."

She then looked at him with a new emotion in her eyes. He realized what he just said, and he cleared his throat, feeling his face heat up as he waited for her response. He thought that if he said anything more, then he'd probably say something worse or just plain stupid, and he sure didn't want to embarrass himself in front of her. He looked up to see what her face showed, and was surprised to see a small smile.

"Sure… Yeah, that would be nice. Thank you… Leo."


	2. Chapter 2

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Adjusting to A New Life**

She looked up at the door with uncertain and dreading eyes. What would he say? What would he do when he say her? She was afraid to think about all of the possibilities. But as Abby stood there with a giant overcoat that April had let her borrow with a hat to cover her head and face, she felt fidgety and reacted at every noise that was made. Not only was she worried about coming face to face with her boyfriend, but she was also scared if the Kraang would find her.

She looked over her shoulder, glancing at the shadow that crouched behind one of the chimneys on the roof of another building. Leo looked at her for a small moment before nodding and looking away. He had brought her here only within minutes, and he had promised that he'd keep watch until she came back out. Sighing heavily, she turned back to the door and reached out to knock it. When the soft echoing of her knuckles tapping the wood faded away, she waited impatiently for him.

The door creaked open enough to show half of a young man's face. Even though she couldn't see his whole face, she saw a bit of a frown when his eyes landed on her. She cleared her throat, and then spoke softly.

"Danny?" she meekly said, looking up at him.

Hearing her familiar voice, he smiled and closed the door again, unlocked it, and opened it back to show her a grin.

"Hey, angel! Thought you were a robber there for a minute." He had light blonde hair, green eyes, and a lean built face. He was quite tall, and was a football player at the high school, where he was actually popular. Before she had hooked up with him, she had had the biggest crush on him, and now they had been together for about two years.

"Hey, um… can I come in?" she asked quietly, not showing her face and not comfortable with standing outside for any longer.

He tilted his head slightly, but shrugged and nodded. "Of course! Come in!"

She offered one last glance over her shoulder and saw that Leo was still where he was; only now more hidden behind the brick structure. She then walked into the house, Danny shutting the door behind them and following her to the couch. She sat down, keeping her tail curled around herself under the coat so that he couldn't see. She never showed her face.

"So what's with the dark and spooky getup?" he piped, sitting down and grinning at her without a worry in the world. She wished that she could be that way.

She sighed, and looked down at her feet for a moment, which were covered by the shoes April had given to her. "Danny… you know what you said? About you loving me no matter what I looked like?"

He smiled at her warmly. "Of course, babe. Why? Did you go to the beauty shop again?"

She shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. "It's… worse than that."

He gasped, his eyes growing wide. "Did they cut all of your hair off?!"

She burst into a fit of giggles, shaking her head and briefly forgetting her situation. But she recovered, and as she tried to explain, she found herself stumbling over her own words. "No… I didn't go to the beauty shop. This… I… Danny I can't… I…"

He frowned. "What's wrong, babe?"

She tried to hold back a sob. Oh how she was going to hate having to show him what she was. To tell the truth, she didn't want to be her at all. "I don't know how to tell you. All I can do is… is show you."

With that, she began to take off the huge jacket that hugged her whole body. He leaned forward, eager to know what exactly had gotten her so upset. The coat fell to the floor, and she stood up, tossing the hat to the side. His eyes almost bugged out of his skull when he saw what was standing in front of him. Her skin… it… it was brown! And it wasn't even skin, it was scaly-like. A long and slender tail sprouted from the lower part of her spine, twitching at the tip in a nervous way.

He was shocked into silence for a minute, his mouth hung open and his eyes wide, and even his skin looked like it had paled. She was about to say something, to try to bring him out of his shock. But as soon as her hand moved towards him, he shrieked and jumped away from her and fell off the couch.

"GET AWAY FROM ME! What are you? Who are you? Where's Abigale?!" he shouted, scrambling to his feet and backing towards the TV and grabbing a baseball bat that he had leaning near the TV against the wall.

Her own eyes widened, and she backed away a little. But there was still a little hope that he'd listen if she tried to calm him down. "Danny, it is me!"

He shook his head, his eyes wide and actually fearful as he held the bat in trembling hands. "My girlfriend isn't some kind of… of… m-monster!"

That struck her in the heart hard, and she could already feel tears forming in the corners of her eyes. She didn't understand, and she couldn't believe what he just said. He could hear her voice, and believe it was her under that jacket, but seeing her true physical form he thought that she was some kind of monster? And she wasn't a monster, she was just a mutant! But the fact that he was willing to actually hit her with that bat made her scared, and she tried again to speak to him.

"Danny, please-," she began hastily, her voice full of plead.

"Get out! Get out of here, you freak!" Danny shouted angrily and gave the bat a good swing for good measure, and at the sound of it she gladly obeyed. She bent down and snatched up the coat April had lent her, and was now turning around and running out the door. Danny stood there for a moment, hesitating of whether or not to follow. But before he could chicken out he forced himself to run after her. He chased her out, but when he reached the door, he saw that she was suddenly gone.

Abby looked down at him from the roof in sadness and hurt, clinging to part of the roof of the house she was just in. Leo was beside her, keeping an arm close so that she wouldn't fall. He gazed down at the man with narrowed green eyes, anger now nipping at his heart as he watched the man look around for a minute before running back inside the building. How could he be so cruel? Abby was talking to him at one moment, and then when he actually saw what she was, he flipped out like she was a freak. He hated that word. _Freak_. It was a word that meant that you didn't belong in the same world with other people, because they judged you for what you looked like. He knew the feeling. It was the reason he and his brothers never went out into the open without caution.

He looked to Abby's tearful and reddening face. Liquid dripped from her eyes as she tried to fight the urge to break down. His heart lurched in his chest, and he knew that she was hurt badly. Not physically, but mentally in the heart. He felt the urge to wrap an arm around her, to comfort her and let her know that everything was going to be alright. But he stopped himself, not sure if it was a good idea. She was a female after all, it would be different than trying to calm one of his brothers. He knew, from experiences with April, that girls could be much different at handling situations. Where a guy would probably suck it up and forget about something, a girl would cry and want someone to be there for her.

But now she was climbing up the roof and was walking across it. She had forgotten that she was holding the jacket, or actually clinging to it for dear life. She hugged the coat to her chest, burying her face in it for comfort and wrapping her tail around her body as she sat down on the edge of the opposite side of the roof. Why did Danny act like that? He knew it was her when she spoke to him… why did he become so frightened? She had known Danny for five years, and had been in a relationship with him for two. If he'd known that it was her, then why didn't he ask questions and try to comfort her like he always did when she had a bad day at work or school? He was always there, always helping her out. And now he has to go and call her a monster… a freak…

Leo watched her with concerned eyes, but he wasn't sure what to say. What could he say? He heard what her boyfriend had said. He had called her a freak. He never gave her a chance to explain when she had shown herself to him. It… reminded him of how he could be whenever he got mad at Raph at times. He didn't like how she looked so sad, so vulnerable to the world as she sat there alone on the edge. The moonlight shining down on her gave her a gloomy look, making him melting a little on the inside. He tried to come up with something, anything, to offer at least a little reassurance.

"Um… Abby? Are you… alright?" he asked quietly and cautiously, walking toward her.

She sniffled, wiping her eyes and resting her chin on the jacket covering her knees. "Yeah… I'm fine."

He frowned. "No… I don't think so."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" she asked, without meaning to sound so snappy towards him.

Even though he heard that attitude in her voice, he knew that she never meant it. He knew that she was just upset, and was just letting her emotions fly through her body. He knew what that felt like, knew that whenever he got angry enough, he'd say some snarky comment to his brothers.

"Look… I'm sorry that this happened to you. At least… you told him. Maybe one day he'll look back and actually consider trying to talk to you again." He hoped that his words would soothe her, make her calm down. It actually seemed to work although he still saw that she wanted to cry.

"Yeah… I know…" she said, tilting her head so that her cheek was against her knee and that she was looking at the ninja turtle with wondering eyes as he sat down beside her. "It's just so odd… I've known him for so long and… You know what I mean?"

Raph nodded slowly without looking at her, instead gazing down at the streets below them. "Yeah… Yeah, I know."

A long while of silence went on, and they still sat on the roof. It was a peaceful time, the moon shining and no Kraang or Purple Dragons out. It was kind of strange to Leo, and it actually disappointed him a little. It seemed like every time he and the other turtles went out on patrol, there were always some Kraang robots out looking for something or Purple Dragons messing around. He always loved a good fight, it was like a sport. He even competed with his brothers during combat. But it was Raph who was the biggest sport, always being cocky about his battle skills and how he was good at taking down enemies. But beside that, he was actually disappointed because he kind of wanted to show off a little.

But those thoughts were faint in his mind as he turned his head to look at the female reptile mutant beside him. For a mutant, she was quite… What was the word? Beautiful? Charming, even? He wasn't really sure how to describe her. He tore his eyes away from her before she could notice him staring. He hated the silence that was hanging in the air. It unsettled him, so he began to think of a way to break the eerie silence.

"Hey, Abby? Who were you before you were… um… mutated?" he asked hesitantly, not sure if it was a good subject to talk about. But what other subject was there?

She made a sound that was half a huff and half a giggle, a short and quiet sound that barely reached his ears. There was a new emotion glittering in her eyes, one that wasn't so gloomy and sad, and was rather amused and longing.

"Well… I was a dancer, actually… A dance instructor's assistant."

He smiled crookedly, his eyes lighting up some in relief that she was in a better mood and had something else to think about other than her boyfriend. "You danced? You were seriously a dancer?"

She chuckled, nodding. "Yeah, mainly I helped with positioning the dancers and making sure that they were paying attention. But I learned so much from dancing, and it was so fun. I loved it more than anything! Whenever I danced, I felt alive. I felt… felt like the whole word had gone away, just for a little bit, and I felt so alive. It was a wonderful feeling…"

He couldn't help but smile as he listened to her, seeing a dreamy smile spread over her face. Her eyes lit up like sparks as she told him about her dancing. It must have been a good feeling if she seemed to forget about everything that had just happened. Even though she still talked, he wasn't sure if he could hear her. He was so mesmerized by her, her happiness on the subject she talked about.

"… But when I went to school, it was dull and actually lonely. Nothing ever happened there, it was the same thing every day. Listen to the teacher, take notes, assigned the homework, go home, do the homework. Same thing every freaking day! I mean, come on! What happened to the days where you could take naps in the middle of class in elementary? Seriously, it's not like we're not human anymore when we leave first grade. We still need our sleep!"

Leo laughed at her opinions on school and work, and she laughed at how funny she sounded explaining it. It reminded of him of his thoughts on when Splinter sometimes trained them. He could be so rough and strict, and on certain occasions he'd make them train nonstop for days. It was so tiring that he'd have bad thoughts on it. Then he was caught by her as she smiled at him curiously.

"So what about you? Who were you before you were mutated?" she asked, grinning as his laughter grew and he cut himself off and chuckled.

He choked on air, coughed hard, and laughed in embarrassment. His eyes had widened and he smiled awkwardly. What would she think of him when he told her that he was a normal baby turtle? Him and all of his brothers at that… He wondered if she'd think that it was weird or stupid. But with the way she was looking at him, he guessed that he'd have no choice but to tell her.

"Ah… heh… To tell you the truth, I was pretty much nobody." he managed, rubbing the back of his neck and not looking at her.

She blinked at him. "What do you mean?"

He thought about how to say it, putting a finger on his chin for a moment in a comical thinking fashion, making her giggle and ask him to try to explain. She put a hand on his shoulder encouragingly, making him smile sheepishly. Then his confidence came back up and he chuckled and grinned at her.

"I was actually a… actual normal turtle."

His words took a moment to register in her mind, and she thought over it over and over again. When she finally actually figured out what he had meant, she burst out laughing and fell backwards onto her back, almost screaming in laughter.

He laughed, too, but wasn't really sure why she was laughing anyhow. He awkwardly sat there and smiled at her. "What? What's so funny?"

Her laughter sounded like she was trying to hold it in, but she just let it out again. It didn't look like she would actually be able to speak. As he watched her, he chuckled, a grin stretching across his face as he laughed softly at first. But with her contagious laughter ringing in the air his own then grew, and he suddenly fell backwards onto his shell, slapping a hand over his face to try to control himself but with little success. He realized just how ridiculous he had sounded.

He wheezed, trying once more to control himself, and finally he was able to calm himself enough to take deep breathes. He was still lying on his shell, catching his breath. He turned his head and looked at her. She had her eyes clenched shut, an unbelievably large grin on her face still as she held her breath to keep from exploding into laughter again. A few giggles escaped, but she managed to calm herself down as well, and she looked at him still smiling. He grinned back, and she sighed.

"It's so odd thinking that a small turtle became something like you." she thought aloud, gazing at him with bright blue eyes and a small smile.

He blinked, falling silent at that comment. Someone like him? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a good or bad thing? He chewed over those words, gazing at her expression and trying to figure out what she meant only by looking at her. But so many emotions seemed to flicker across her face before he could find an answer.

So he frowned thoughtfully. "Someone like me? Is… that a bad thing?"

She seemed taken aback by his question, blinking rapidly as she thought about her response. She could see that he was actually serious about his question by the look on his face. She actually considered both the good and the bad, to tell the truth. She knew just by looking at him that he had could be too serious at times, which wasn't a good thing if you were looking for a guy with a loose attitude. But yet he had a soft heart when the time was right, and he was the oldest of the four brothers. He had seemed hesitant to talk to her at first, but he had offered to help her with meeting her boyfriend and was now even making her feel better after what had happened. He was responsible and caring, determined when needed. She smiled a smile that caught him off-guard and made him all the more curious.

"It's defiantly a good thing." she said softly, carefully saying each word in a way that would sound as meaningful as how she meant it. He heard the sincerity, and a small smile played on his face as he looked away distractingly. She… meant it in a good way. Normally, he thought that it was sometimes a mistake that he had been mutated. Not that he wanted to be dead, but… if he hadn't have been mutated, he wouldn't have had to go through all the fighting and pain. He could've just lived a life as a small turtle like Spike. He wondered what it was like to look at the world through that little turtle's eyes. Spike had it easy. He didn't have to wake up early every morning for training, he didn't have to get up and fight criminals. Leo liked fighting, but he still couldn't help but try to imagine his life as a normal turtle.

But she liked his mutated side, it gave him personality. Not only that, but she was mutated as well, and come to think of it, it wasn't so bad. Plus, she liked him. She liked how kind he was. He felt his face trying to heat up, and he actually kind of felt embarrassed. But he shook his head barely and quickly sat up in an attempt to hide his reddening face.

"Heh…" was all he could manage, rubbing the back of his head and looking down at the streets.

She smiled, but didn't bother to move. She let her eyes wander to the sky, and she sighed contently as she looked up at the starry blanket of blue-black. Being in the city with all of the lights, it affected how much stars you could see. But even so, the sight was beautiful and calming. But after a moment, she felt a small breeze nip at her legs. She was glad that April had gotten her some new clothes, a turquoise tank top with navy shorts. But her shoes were actually becoming uncomfortable with the way her feet were mutated with her body, so she decided to jerk them off. She threw them down onto the street, making Leo give her a questioning look.

"I have no need for them." she simply said, smiling a little and resting her chin on her knee.

He smiled in a knowing fashion, and looked away for a moment's thought. Before he knew it, he had let himself become lost in his mind. He thought about Abby, what he thought about her when he had first met her. She was a great person to hang around with, and for a moment, he wondered if this was even close to what it felt like when he was with Karai. Nah… this was better. Karai was part of the Footclan, an enemy of the ninja turtles and Splinter. Karai tried to kill them who knows how many times because of the Shredder. She fought against them for game and sport. Abby… she was kind, and probably didn't have a mean bone in her body. Not to mention, she was pretty good-looking too.

Abigale wondered what he was thinking. He seemed so calm, the calmest she'd seen him so far. She liked that look he had, not exactly blank, but wiped of any tension or worry from before. He actually had the tiniest of smiles on his face, as if it wasn't trying to show itself. His light blue eyes gleamed in the moonlight, and she smiled at him although he really wasn't aware of it. She watched him for the longest of times, and she sighed quietly. But she suddenly had an evil but funny thought cross her mind, and she giggled at what she imagined would happen if she committed the act she was thinking about doing. She looked at him again, and she slowly reached a hand to tap his shoulder.

"Boo!"

He yelped as her loud voice pierced through his shield and almost fell off the edge of the roof, but with his ninja reflexes, he caught himself before he fell off. He was snapped out of his train of thought, and he looked around almost in a panic to see what had scared him. Okay, maybe scared was too strong of a word…

Abby was back to laughing, rolling back and forth as she had amused tears falling from her eyes. He sat there awkwardly for a minute, putting the pieces together. Then he put on a smirk and leaned forward. He felt something growing inside of him that… he felt like he just couldn't control. He'd felt it before, but it really wasn't as strong as this. He felt energetic, alive, and more playful than he had ever been.

"Oh, you're so in for it!" he growled playfully, still wearing that devious smile as he got into a crouch pose.

She stopped laughing and gasped before she hurriedly stood up. She jumped out of his reach before he could make a grab for her and darted across the rooftop. He laughed and ran after her, grinning like a devil with his eyes shining and humor dancing over his features. She dodged his attempts to grab her, using her tail as a balance as she sprinted across the rooftop. He skidded after her and was jumping from one place to another. He heard her giggles as she ran from him, and he couldn't stop his own laughter from escaping him as he gave into this game of chase. He was having fun, and apparently so was she.

But the game was short lived when he tackled her and they fell onto a flatter part of the rooftop of another building. She yelped as they went down, but they both exploded into fits of laughter when they hit the ground. He had never felt so… happy? No… energetic? No… Actually, he couldn't pick out what he was feeling. It was all mixed together into one emotion that was indescribable. But whatever he was feeling, he liked it. A lot! His heart raced and his blood flowed through his veins, making him all the more excited.

Abby grinned down at him, and when he realized the position they were in with her on top of him, she giggled and jumped off of him, running off again. He was stunned for a second, but tilted his head back to look at her, but she was already skidding around a chimney. He rolled over and sprung to his feet, already running toward where she went. He jumped out to the side to try catch her, but he saw that she was gone. He blinked, and peeked around the other side to see if she was creeping around, but she wasn't there either.

He frowned and scratched his head. Then he turned around to check behind him again, but right when turned his head, he almost ran into another face that was now upside down. He gasped, but then smiled and chuckled as Abby laughed at him. She had climbed to the top of the chimney, and was now hanging down with her tail wrapped around the top for support. Her hair hung down and dangled 'above' her head, or more likely below it.

"Ya wanna get something to eat? I know a noodle shop nearby." he suddenly asked, catching her off-guard. But she smiled all the same and she nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."


	3. Chapter 3

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Mutation Complication**

"…So then I flipped the guy over, and then this other one was on me! I was thinking; oh my God, how much worse can this situation get?! But then right after I thought that, the whole roof was starting to come apart!"

Abby grinned, giggling at the way he was gesturing his arms towards the ceiling and then slapping them on top of his head. It had been a few days since she had first come to the lair, and she had grown close to the others. She'd gotten used to the idea that she was a mutant, and she stopped worrying about her parents as much. She didn't care about her old boyfriend as much, but she was happy with where and who she was now.

As she sat there in her turquoise tank-top and navy jean shorts with her hair in a ponytail, Leo was talking almost nonstop about a battle he had one time with the Kraang as they sat on the sofa. Even though she hated thinking about the aliens, she loved hearing stories about Leo and his brothers beating them up. Plus, he told the stories in such… detail, that she could just listen to him all day long. But she knew that usually he was being a little overdramatic, but even still, it was still fun to listen to him.

"So what happened next?" she asked calmly, her tail swishing slowly in an instinctive manner.

He grinned. "So the ceiling came down on us, right? We jumped out of the windows and the place exploded! Robot parts went everywhere and a freaking alien brain landed on Donnie's head. It was too good not to get a picture of!"

With that, he took out a turtle shell phone, clicked a few buttons, and showed her. She stared at it blankly for a moment, but then when she actually focused on it she burst into a fit of giggles. It showed Donnie with a large, pink, and squishy-looking brain latched onto his head while the poor turtle was screaming and trying to yank it off.

"It wasn't funny! It was gross!" Donnie snapped. He was sitting on the floor in front of the TV beside Mikey and Raph and was pouting almost like a toddler with his arms crossed. They had been listening to Leo ramble on and on about fights and whatever else came to mind. It was actually starting to get annoying, and Raph with his ever so mind-speaking ways, would add a cocky comment every now and then. Mikey and Donnie kept quiet and watched TV. Leo smirked and lowered the phone so that the other two brothers besides Donnie could see. As soon as their eyes landed on the picture they burst out laughing, rolling over on the floor. Donnie grumbled and rolled his eyes.

"It's still not funny."

"Oh, I think it is." Raph said in between laughter, grinning at him as Leo waved the phone in his brother's face. Donnie waved it off and went back to watching TV.

Abigale smiled dully, and looked at the TV. It was something on National Geographic, something that Donnie liked to watch every now and then just for the heck of it. But now the speaker of whatever show was on was talking about turtle life and cycles. The moment had become very silent as the show went on for a minute or two. The show was becoming boring, talking about a male courting a female or something like that. Abby's eyes were half lidded, sleep trying to catch up to her.

What she didn't expect was for all the boys to scream loudly and jump behind the couch, except for Leo. He covered his own eyes and attempted to cover hers with one hand. She yelped in surprise, jumping in her seat and trying to remove his hand to see what had gotten them so shook up.

"Turn it off! Turn it off!" Mikey yelled, peeking over the couch but ducking back.

"I'm trying!" Donnie yelled. "But it's hard to when you can't see the remote!"

"Well open your eyes and look at the remote!" Leo snapped.

"My eyes!" Raph screamed, burying his face into the back of the sofa.

Abby managed to pry one of Leo's fingers off of her eyes. She looked at the TV for a brief moment, but then she was dumbstruck. Her eyes locked on the TV screen in confusion with her mouth hanging open slightly. It was just showing a male turtle on a female. What was so scary about that? All it was showing were turtles… mating… Oh wait… She almost forgot about the fact that these guys were actually turtles… She sighed and rolled her eyes, shaking her head and snatching the remote out of Donnie's hand. She then turned it to some cartoons.

For a moment, the boys didn't move, but when the sound of kiddy cartoon music rang through the air they all dared to uncover their eyes to see what the TV showed. When they saw _Looney Tunes _playing, they all sighed in sheer relief and fell backwards. The female mutant lizard grinned, even as Splinter calmly walked in to see what had gotten his sons so frightened. She waved the remote in the air.

"National Geographic." she said simply. Splinter sighed and shook his head, then left the room to his own.

So they watched the cartoon show for a while, everybody now settled back to where they were before. She was so tempted to change it back to National Geographic. She couldn't get over their faces and the sounds they made when they screamed. Every now and then she'd look down at the remote and actually move her finger towards the channel button. But she'd stop herself when the thought of them actually passing out from shock came to mind. On _Looney Tunes_, it was showing Bugs Bunny running away from Elmer Fudd. The rabbit jumped down in a hole, and the hunter went after him. But the rabbit appeared again out of nowhere and threw a bunch of dynamite in the hole.

"You know, that is physically impossible for animals to do that in the real world. I mean, think about how smart a rabbit would really have to be to do that!" Donnie said, frowning at the TV with his gapped teeth showing.

Abby rolled her eyes. "So? Aliens aren't supposed to exist, and you are mutants, and you are ninjas. In the human world, all of that is supposed to be only in TV shows."

Donnie thought for a moment, and nodded after a minute. "Good point."

Abby smiled, but then she shifted uncomfortably by rolling her shoulders and hanging her feet off the sofa. She felt too hot and claustrophobic, although she wasn't even crowded. She'd felt this a few times already, and she didn't know what it was. Most of the time she'd ignore it, but ever since her skin was cleaned off of that Mutagen, she'd felt scratchy and itchy like her skin wasn't hydrated. She tried putting lotion on, thanks to April being prepared for such situations. But that didn't even help. Sometimes it'd get bad enough to actually make her aggressive towards others. Not that she meant it, it's just that she didn't want to be close to other people.

"You okay?" Leo asked, feeling her tail brush against his arm. He'd noticed her change in behavior over the days. She'd grown restless and a little more agitated, like something was really bothering her.

She smiled and nodded slowly. "Yeah… I'm gonna get some fresh air."

With that she stood up and walked away from the turtles. She wasn't going outside, but she needed to get away from people. She needed to be alone for a moment. She'd done this same thing about four times already that day, and it was really bugging the boys especially Leo. They knew that something was wrong, but they weren't sure whether to ask or not. They guessed that it was female problems, as Donnie once tried to explain but was shushed because he was probably going into too much in detail.

Her tail swished agitatedly, and she paced back and forth to ease the limited movement that she felt. She scratched her arm when an itch erupted, and when she did, she saw a flake float off her arm and into the floor.

_Oh… right, I'm a lizard… _She knew that lizards shed, but now that she was feeling it for herself, she was skeptical that it was just a phase she was going through, which was what she had thought at first. She grunted. She felt like her skin was constricting her, suffocating her and making it hard to breathe.

"Abigale?"

She looked up at Splinter, forcing a small smile. "Yeah?"

He looked down at her with a calm frown. He knew what was wrong, and he knew that she wasn't willing to bother anybody about it. She hugged herself in a shy manner, her eyes not focused on anything in particular. He had studied her for the last few days. He noted that her skin was too dry-looking, and by judging her agitation to seemingly nothing, he knew that it was almost time for her to shed.

"You need to shed, or you will suffer being pressured in your own skin." He watched as she looked up at him in uncertainty.

"But how do I shed?" she asked meekly, a little scared of the thought of all of her skin coming off.

He put a hand on her shoulder gently. "Your animal instinct will guide you through that. You just need to be away from others to allow yourself the time to prepare yourself."

She looked at his hand, and then back down at her feet. How she was going to shed was beyond her. She couldn't just take her skin off like clothes, it was literally attached to her body. She was actually afraid of the thought her skin having to peel off…

Leo looked in the corner of his eye and was listening to the conversation. So that was what was wrong with her? He heard that Splinter said that she'd have to let her animal instincts guide her. But she probably didn't know how to let her instincts come out, being a newly created mutant and all. Did he mean that she'd have to be alone in this?

Splinter saw the fear in her eyes. He knew that she was afraid of not knowing what to do, so he thought of any possible ways she could be comforted during her time of shedding. Shedding could be a hard time during a lizard, or any reptile's, lifetime. But it being her first time would be even more difficult. She would need privacy. She would need to stay somewhere where she would not be put under pressure and would feel comfortable. So the couch was not a good place for it. Then a thought came to mind. Leonardo had become very, very close to her. Perhaps he could help her.

"Leonardo," he called softly, and as if on cue the blue-masked turtle was instantly at his side. It wasn't that surprising, seeing how worried he had been during this time of her change of behavior.

"Yes, Sensei?" he replied, looking up at his father with bright eyes.

"Do you know of any place other than here that Abigale could stay for a short time? She needs time to… shed her skin." Splinter watched as Leo thought for a moment, and then his features brightened as if he had an idea, but then he looked down as though he rethought it. But after a moment, he looked up at him.

"Well… she could stay in my room if she wants."

"Are you sure, Leonardo?" Splinter asked. "It could take at least a few hours because of her mutation if not all night."

Leo nodded. "I don't mind."

Abby looked down, wrapping her tail around herself. She was kind of glad that Leo had spoken up about letting her use his room, but she hated to be a bother. But he didn't even seem to mind the idea. So she guessed that he would sleep on the couch until she could figure out a way to shed her skin. In Leo's mind, he was actually kind of worried about her. He hated that she was going to have to be alone without anyone to help her. He wished that he could at least stay with her to encourage her, if not help her with her skin. But he knew that that would only pressure her, and at this time, she wouldn't be able to deal with pressure.

So two hours later, it was already 10:40 pm. Everybody had gone to bed, and Abigale was in Leo's room trying to shed. Leo was sitting on the couch, not feeling the least bit tired. He was too busy worrying about Abby. He wondered if she was okay. She hadn't made a sound since he left her in there, and he was blankly watching the TV as commercials flipped by about random products being sold on the surface. He hated not being useful in these situations, and not being able to help her made him go crazy. He tapped his fingers on the arm of the couch, his eyes almost pale-looking as the light of the TV flickered over his face.

"My son, why are you still awake?"

The young turtle gasped, jumping in his spot on the couch and accidently throwing the remote off somewhere. He looked around with wide eyes, stunned by the sudden voice that had rung through the very quiet living room. Then he looked up at Splinter, who had a soft expression on his face. Leo sighed to calm his racing heart, and leaned forward so that he rested his elbows on his knees. He knew that his Sensei could see that something was wrong with him. He could see the concern in his hazel eyes. Leo actually felt kind of embarrassed that the rat could sense things that the brothers couldn't. They actually still thought that he was still into Karai, but he had almost forgotten about her, and was now worried sick about Abigale. Splinter knew that he'd come close to her, but he was just glad that he couldn't read his thoughts.

"Oh… hey Sensei… I can't sleep." Leo replied dully, sighing again as he rubbed his forehead with his fingers to soothe the small headache that throbbed.

Splinter hummed, nodding as he sat down beside his son. "I understand what you mean. I have been up for some time myself."

"Why can't you sleep?" Leo asked, quite surprised. Splinter was always asleep by this time, if not sooner.

Splinter sighed softly, the sound of tiredness and slight worry etched within. "I felt that I should stay awake, in case something goes wrong with Abigale. This being her first time shedding, I don't want to be asleep if something happens."

Leo nodded in agreement. Being so worried about her, he knew exactly what he meant. But he assumed that his own situation was even worse because he had grown so attached to her. "Yeah..."

Splinter had a tired look in his eyes, and Leo could see sternness in them. "Leo… I understand that you are worried about her. But she needs to learn on her own how to live in her new body and get through everything by herself, because we cannot help her."

The teenager looked down at his hands clasped between his knees. He really hated talking about the subject. What if one of his brothers heard? They would never let him live it down! He felt his face heat up and he turned his head away from his Sensei to keep him from seeing it.

"I know, Sensei."

"We all need to learn to adapt, to overcome the problems in our lives. Sometimes we need others there, sometimes we have no choice but to push others away. It all depends on the situation, and the person." Splinter was still going on about the subject. Leo knew that he meant well in the lecture, but he was starting to get annoyed by the fact that he was trying to calm him down that way. But at the same time, hearing him talking to him made him a little less stressed. Anytime that Splinter spoke to him, the way he spoke usually calmed him down. Besides, he knew that if something went wrong, Splinter would be there to help, he always was.

"Well, I might as well try to get some sleep. You should too. Here." He handed Leo a blue blanket, placing it in his hands before he stood back up. He nodded to his son, and Leo nodded back and watched him walk off toward his room through the darkness. Even though Splinter had actually helped him with his stress, Leo was glad that he was gone. Talking about the subject made him all the more nervous about her. A few times already he'd been tempted to go check on her, see if she was okay, anything. It drove him mad not knowing about her condition.

He sighed, and lied down. Maybe it was better to calm down and just sleep it off. Of course she'd be fine. If she needed anything, she'd call. But that thought made him want to stay awake to hear her, so he could be the first to go to her. He slowly spread the blanket over himself and rested his head on the lumpy and thin pillow that sat against the arm of the sofa. It didn't provide much support, but heck, with the things that were soaring through his mind, he really didn't care. The TV still flickered different colors, but he told himself that he'd find the remote tomorrow. To tell the truth, it was actually comforting to have the light on. Secretly, he hated being in the dark sometimes, especially whenever he was stressed. Whenever he was stressed, he wanted to be able to see his surroundings because he would become more alert. So if he heard a noise, he would be able to see what was there. He closed his eyes, and he was actually feeling himself drifting off. Another hour or so passed by, and still he sat there half asleep and half awake. His senses were blurry, but he could still pick out the smallest of noises, well, not so much as the smallest.

He sat there for a good while, bored and tired, until a soft voice spoke up. "Leo?"

His bright blue eyes snapped open instantly at the voice and he sat up abruptly. He saw the smaller figure standing over around the other side of the couch, her tail wrapped around her body and her arms hugging her. He could see that her skin was a little brighter, but he couldn't tell exactly how much lighter in the dimness of the light. Her hair was messed up, and dark circles were under her eyes. He smiled happily at her in relief.

"Abby! Are you alright?" he asked in a whisper, almost afraid to wake anybody up.

"I think so… It was so weird…" she said with a sigh. Her voice was so quiet and raspy. She really did look like a wreck.

"I'm glad you're okay."

She walked over and she walked over to the front of the couch. She sat down beside him, still hugging herself a little awkwardly. He studied her for a moment, but didn't say anything. Even in the small light, he could see a little more green in her skin, her chest a little brighter. She wasn't wearing any clothes, but with her mutated form, she didn't have anything to show that she used to as a human. He really wasn't bothered by it. Her blue eyes sparkled from exhausted tears, not that she was sad. But she looked so tired, almost as if she was on the verge of passing out. Her eyes sparkled in the flickering light of the TV, giving them a beautiful lighting that he could just stare at forever. He smiled softly, glad that she was okay.

A few minutes passed by, and she suddenly yawned. She then looked at him with a new emotion in her features, he could see it as embarrassment and even hope.

"Leo…?"

He blinked slowly at her. "Yeah?"

She swallowed, blinking rapidly and pushing a piece of hair out of her face. "C-Can I sleep with you tonight? I mean… I hope that doesn't sound weird…"

His face heated up, and his eyes grew wide for a moment in surprise. She… wanted to sleep with him? He felt a little awkward for a moment. How should he respond? He'd never slept with a girl before, and even though he liked her, he didn't want to do or say anything to make her uncomfortable. But he could see hope in her shining blue eyes, and could see that she was on the verge of collapsing over onto her side.

So he paused for a minute to consider his words, and then smiled, and nodded slowly. "No, no… It doesn't sound weird at all. Of course, you can."

She took a moment for his words to sink in, and then smiled tiredly at him. He scooted over and up so that he was slightly sitting up and on his side. She lied down next to him, curling her tail around herself and snuggling against his plastron with her back against him, her eyes closing and a small smile spreading over her face. He draped the blanket over them and leaned his head against the arm of the couch, letting her have the small pillow and use his arm as extra support. Once settled, she was then asleep instantly in his arms. He felt how soft her skin was. She must have just finished shedding, and had gotten lonely as she waited to fall asleep. He looked down at her, and saw that her hair was again hovering in her face. This time didn't hold back the urge to brush away a piece of hair that hung over her eye. She looked so peaceful in her sleep, and even as she slept, he could feel her tremble slightly from the coolness of the air that once surrounded her. But as the warmth from his own body trapped under the blanket wrapped itself around her, her body settled in her sleep. She must have been so tired, so exhausted from the shedding process.

Him? He was just glad that she was okay and with him so he himself could get some sleep. But yet he still looked down at her and took in her features. Her eyelids closed just about perfectly, twitching a little in her sleep as she dreamt. Her lips were curved at the ends while the middle part was a fine line, a sweet little smile that formed from the feeling of peace and happiness. Her hair settled on her head perfectly, adding character to the reptile-side of her. He wondered what she looked like when she had been human. She was such a curious being, new to him. Karai was one thing, but he'd never met a female mutant before. The animal side of her… it was different. She had more spirit, the good kind of spirit. She was just different all together. Not that that was a bad thing. She was interesting.

He pushed away his thoughts and carefully let an arm down to her side and gently pulled her closer as a simple gesture to keep her from falling. He sighed and leaned his head over onto the side and closed his eyes, his lips forming a small and content smile just as hers had. All the worry and stress fading away now, he was finally feeling the tiredness grow into exhaustion and he was soon asleep with her.


	4. Chapter 4

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Brotherly Argument, Family Punishment**

"Leeeooo… Leeoo! Wakey, wakey…!" The voice echoed in his mind, and he frowned in his sleep, groaning and burying his face in his arm to try to force it away.

"Leo… C'moooon…." Another voice spoke up, all too familiar and had a taunting sound to it and was higher pitched than the first. But with his mind so focused in his sleep, he didn't care to open his eyes to see who was talking to him. The person stretched out his name in a joking manner, annoying him like a fly in his ear. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and he shrugged it off and grunted.

"Later…" he mumbled through a sigh, keeping his eyes clenched shut.

"C'mon, bro, ya know ya want to wake up…" the second voice said again.

Leo sighed heavily. He knew that he wasn't going to get any more sleep than he already had. So he reluctantly opened one eye to look at the people who were so annoyingly trying to wake him up. His body sore and stiff, he didn't want to have any part in opening his eyes and moving about. Even his muscles screamed out in protest as he barely shifted them, although he couldn't feel his right arm. It felt numb and tingly. Then he realized why he was so stiff. It had been the way he'd fallen asleep. He was still lying on his side. But the reason why his arm was asleep made him fully awaken. Abby was still lying next to him, her head snuggled up against his arm in the crook of his elbow, his other arm wrapped around her waist. His right arm felt cold, and he could just barely shift his fingers. He didn't mind that though since it was her there.

The only problem was the audience who were trying to wake him up.

He gasped and almost sat up. But he stopped himself to keep from accidently waking the girl beside him. His face heated up as Raph and Mikey grinned evilly at him from above, and he groaned and pushed his face against the arm of the couch in an attempt to hide. He could hear them laughing.

"Aw, that is so adorable!" Mikey said, his eyes sparkling and a large grin on his face as he looked down at the two.

"Yeah, Leo looked so happy lying there. I hated that we had to… wake the poor Loverboy up!" Raph said, mischief etched in every word, making Leo all the more embarrassed.

Leo almost growled in agitation, but he was silenced when Abby showed signs of waking up. Her tail shifted around her waist, and her eyes fluttering a little. She wasn't fond of waking up either, and all she wanted to do at that moment was nuzzle back into the soft and warm wall that she was curled up against. But the light of the lights in the room and the shifting of the wall she was against made her curious of the 'awake world'. A soft moan escaped her as she rolled onto her back and stretched, not noticing the other two turtles that were there. She sighed, and opened her eyes fully to take in her surroundings. Then her pupils constricted and she jumped, backing up abruptly against Leo in surprise and making him grunt and cough.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" she gasped, scooting away from him and watching him sit up.

Well so much for not waking her up… But he sighed and nodded, smiling at her barely and frowning at his brothers. They burst out laughing and fell onto the floor as they lost control of themselves. Abigale groaned, pushing back a piece of hair out of her face and curling up to hide her face in her knees in embarrassment. Her face showed a hint of pink at her eyes traveled to the floor.

Leo glared at the two on the floor for a moment. He felt his blood boil but before he could snap at them he looked back at Abby again. He could now see her new skin, which was now already tougher and smooth. Her skin was now a greenish color, her tail fading into a more brown shade with a dark brown stripe down her back, and her chest a tan-yellow color. With more green and yellowish in her colors, she looked more natural and more defined. Before with her all brown scales, the thing that stood out most on her was her blue eyes.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked down at the two ninja turtles still laughing their heads off on the floor. Mikey's legs were over Raph's midsection, each having their eyes clenched shut and their arms gripping their stomachs for support. One look at Abigale told him that she was clearly just as embarrassed as he was. So he knew he had to say something.

"Alright, will you two cut it out?" Leo growled, sitting up more and letting his feet touch the floor. She looked up at him for a moment, and then at the other boys. Their laughter died down and they looked up at their older brother.

"Aw, c'mon, Leo! Ya gotta admit it was pretty funny." Mikey giggled, wiping a tear from his eye.

Leo rolled his eyes and stood up. "You guys really need to grow up."

"Oh? And what made you so suddenly feel like an adult?" Raph asked, arching one part of his mask while his lip curled slightly downward as he stood up.

"Nobody, but you are acting like anything but mature right now." The blue-masked turtle said back agitatedly, his eyes collecting a hint of anger.

He knew that Raph probably hadn't meant to offend him, but he still didn't like how he was laughing at him and Abigale, Abigale mainly. Mikey, yeah, he could understand with him being the youngest. In fact, if it had been only Mikey joking around, he probably wouldn't be so upset. But Raph was older and should have known better, and had a problem controlling his anger in such situations. He could offend anybody else and get away with it, but whenever he got offended, he became upset like a bully in a schoolyard.

"Oh, and you're the most mature one here, huh?" Raph growled. "You getting all offended because we were joking about you and your girlfriend?"

Leo gritted his teeth. "She not my-, we're not…! Ugh! What is your problem?!"

"No problem here, it's just you." The red-banded ninja said through his own gritted teeth, a slight grin trying to spread over his face, but his temper wasn't allowing it to.

"I think you do have a problem."

At that, Raph's knuckles cracked. Leo's chest puffed out a little in instinct to Raph's sudden aggressiveness, as did Raph's to Leo's attitude. Leo was just barely taller than him if not the same height. Mikey had backed away slowly and disappeared to go talk to Donnie, who in which was at his computer watching the scene from afar. He didn't want any part in it, and neither did Mikey. They were sitting next to each other now, watching the dark aura flow through the other two brothers. Abigale felt guilty and awkward, and even a little embarrassed at the 'girlfriend' comment from Raph. She sat on the couch still, like she had started all of this although she knew that it was just the tension between the boys that had started it. She looked up at the two with pleading eyes.

"Guys, please calm down!" she said quickly, hoping to stop them from getting into a fight.

The two brothers glared at each other in the eye, their faces heating up in anger and irritation, their fists clenched and their shoulders tensed. Their foreheads almost touched even. Leo looked calmer than Raph, but still, she didn't like how upset he looked. Raph's eyes were narrowed sharply at the older turtle, Leo's were narrowed but they were more focused. The two turtles looked as they they were about to break into a fight at any moment.

"Sons!"

Instantly the two's eyes widened and they parted and stood side-by-side in almost a salute pose. They both were stiff as Splinter marched over to the two, an upset look in his eyes as he gazed down at his two boys who were still tense from the argument. Splinter let his eyes glance towards the girl on the couch, and saw that she was a little distressed. He looked at the turtles again.

"Explain. What is the meaning of this?" the mutant rat demanded, looking between the boys expectantly. Leo took in a deep breath to ease his mind before he speaking, not wanting to snap something that he didn't mean out, especially to his Sensei.

"Sensei, we had a disagreement. Nothing was meant." he said quickly, getting the answer out and straight without hesitation.

Splinter frowned, and looked to Raph. The light green-eyed turtle looked away for a moment, but quickly nodded in agreement.

"Hai, Sensei… Just a disagreement." he replied stiffly.

Splinter was dead silent, studying over the two for a good while. His gaze was strict and his shoulders were slightly tensed. But overall he was calm about the situation as if he had handled such situations before. His ears twitched slightly as he thought deeply. He looked towards Donatello and Michelangelo. The younger turtle sat next to Donnie, both of their eyes uncertain about the scene that they had just witnessed, just as Abigale's were. He had heard the faint conversation from his room, and knew from the sound of it that they were about to start a fight, so he knew that he had to intervene before they could. He knew that such behavior within the family would have to be punished, so he began thinking of ways to make them make up for it. His eyes went hazy as he thought, but then they sharpened back up and pierced through his sons as he came up with an idea.

"You will begin training now. All of you. You will not stop until you fully learn how to cooperate with one another, or until I see that you physically cannot continue on." He straightened his back, and saw from the corner of his eye when Donnie and Mikey sighed, but nodded all the same. Leo and Raph nodded stiffly in reply. "Now go to the dojo and begin stretching. You will have a very, very long day."

About two hours later the boys had been put into teams, Donnie and Mikey against Raph and Leo. Donnie and Mikey ran at the other two again for the fifth time, hoping to God that this time they could beat them, just this one time. But as expected, Leo and Raph flipped them over and slammed them onto their shells once again. They had been doing this for thirty minutes already, and before that they had been training with each other's weapons, doing sit-ups, push-ups, pull-ups, running laps, fighting each other, one against one, basically whatever came to Splinter's mind at the time they were done with each activity. By now, only through the second hour, they were showing signs of fatigue, sweating and panting, their muscles wanting to fail but their will forcing themselves on.

April had dropped by for a visit an hour before, and Abigale explained why they were doing this. She also told her of her shedding, and when April asked how she did it, she answered that she had no clue. Truth be told, she didn't even remember everything that had happened the night before. After the shedding, she had just been so tired. She didn't even remember talking to Leo and falling asleep with him. She forgot how she even got to the couch in the first place. But now she was wearing her turquoise tank top and jean shorts again.

"Jeez, it must have been rough for you to forget everything." the orange-haired girl thought aloud, astonished that Abigale actually had to shed despite having been mutated from human to animal. Then again, she was now part reptile, so it was probably expected.

Abby nodded slowly, and cringed when Mikey was thrown against the wall again when he and his partner tried to go at Leo and Raph for a seventh time. He sat there for a moment to rest, groaning in his shock. But one shout from Splinter sent him scrambling to his feet and running back to the ring to Donnie's side. She felt sorry for him and Donnie. They had no part in the fight with Leo and Raph. The two older brothers just got mad at each other, nothing directed to him and Donnie. But then again, she guessed that it was fair. Sometimes whenever some people in her classes became crazy, the teacher would punish the whole classroom for their bad behavior.

"Yeah, it was odd." she replied, watching as the boys clashed again.

But this time Donnie somehow managed to trip Raphael and the red-banded turtle hit the ground on his shell. While Leo was distracted by Raph's fall, Mikey tackled him. Then the orange-banded turtle jumped back up, panting and smiling half-heartedly.

"Alright…! We did it…!" he cheered dully, slouching in exhaustion and Donnie grinning weakly in his own tired state. But just as they had had their little celebration, Leo and Raph jumped back up and tackled the two and pinned them to the ground.

April frowned. "Gosh… I think they've had enough."

Abby shrugged. "Its Splinter's choice, though…"

The other girl sighed. "Yeah, I know… But still, it's not right to do this to them."

The mutant female watched them for a moment, and then frowned. She thought for a moment, thinking of some movie she had seen. It was about a basketball team that had a couch that seemed unfair, but was putting their education before the sport. One player wanted to be part of the team, but the coach wanted him to prove that he would do whatever it took to be on the team. When it looked like the guy was about to break down, the rest of the team stood up and helped him complete the exercises he needed to finish to win over the coach.

So the more she thought about that movie, the more she was tempted to get up and train with the boys. Some of what they were doing looked similar to the karate she took as a child. Finally, she closed her eyes with a frown, sighed, and then stood up and walked over to them, leaving April a little confused sitting against the wall.

Abby walked over to Mikey's side, patting his shoulder and getting into a fighting stance. Mikey looked at her with wide and confused blue eyes. She smiled back at him. April caught on to what she was doing, and she got up as well and stepped up to Donnie's side. He blinked in surprise and confusion at her, and she smiled at him in return. Abby and April looked at the other two in front of them. Leo and Raph looked at each other in confusion, not exactly sure what to think of it. Leo looked at Abby, and she gave him a challenging expression, as did April with Raph. Only then did all the turtles catch onto what the girls were doing.

"Wait, us fight you? Look, we don't wanna hurt ya!" Raph scoffed, grinning crookedly. Sweat dripped down his head, and his face flushed from all the exercise. Leo remained silent, gazing at Abby in the eyes. He tried to pick out why she was doing this. He really didn't want to hurt her, and he seemed hesitant to make any move at all.

Splinter didn't' say a word, only watched on in wonder and curiosity from his stance near the tree. He was actually quite impressed that the girls would stand up and join the boys. Why were they doing this? He supposed that he'd find out as the fight continued on. Now there were four against two. He knew that he had trained April for a few weeks, and she knew a few skills for battle, but he was even more curious of what Abigale knew.

Suddenly Abby ran forward towards Leo, as did April towards Raph. Donnie and Mikey's eyes widened and they were about to protest to their involvement. But when the girls were half-way close to Raph and Leo, they shot glances at each other. Right before they got to their opponents, they suddenly jumped to the side, switching places. Leo and Raph didn't see the little signal between them, and jerked their heads, confused by the sudden move before they were both taken down to the ground hard and pinned by the girls. Abigale kept a foot on Raph's chest, making him immobile with his shell. April held a knee against Leo's plastron, doing the same.

All the boys were surprised, but Donnie and Mikey laughed at the surprised brothers on the ground below the two females. Abby and April got up off of them, taking a step back away from them.

"How did you do that? You didn't even talk to each other or plan that out." Leo asked, sitting up and rubbing his head with a bewildered look on his face.

Abby and April looked at each other for a moment, and then they grinned in union at them. But April was the one who spoke. "We girls have a way with each other. It's a secret for us to know, and you two to find out."

Splinter smiled softly at the reply, an expression barely visible. An hour later, the boys were sent back to doing pull-ups and sits-ups. But this time, they had a little help. Abby pushed up Raph and Leo's feet while they performed the exercise, while April did the same with Donnie and Mikey. The boys were exhausted, but all mentally admitted that they wouldn't be able to do this without their help. For some reason, the girls helping helped them go on. But Splinter gave Donnie and Mikey a break, seeing as they weren't the ones who weren't fighting, they could go rest much to their relief. That left Abby, Leo, and Raph still doing sit-ups. She held down their feet firmly, keeping a good hold on them as they came up and down repeatedly. Even now she was tired from helping them, but was happy to be there either way.

"Um… Hey, Abby?" Leo grunted as he pulled up an then dropped back down.

She looked down at him. "Yeah?"

"I-I'm sorry… if I upset you earlier, ya know… when we got angry at each other." He motioned his head towards Raph, who sighed gruffly in reply.

Abigale smiled a little. "Its fine… boys will be boys."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raph asked suddenly, revealing a frown as he came back up.

She rolled her eyes. "I see things like this happen every day… or at least I used to when I was human. Boys at school always got into arguments, but they always ended up badly."

"Like how?" Raph piped.

She looked down at their feet dully. She remembered one time a guy she knew was friends with a boy who he called a brother, because they'd known each other for so long and were so close, and they got into a fight and their friendship shattered and they became enemies. "Sometimes getting into a fight, losing a friend, and a lot of times… a brother…"

Her words made both turtles pause in the middle of their sit-ups. Losing a brother? They knew that their arguing could end badly, and sometimes they'd actually try to throw a hit at each other. But they always seemed to work it out in the end. But they never thought to consider what could happen if they took their fights too far. Losing each other…? Raph even knew that he'd be lost without his leader, his older brother.

"Huh… that's… um…" Raph tried to find a reply to that statement, but he couldn't find the words he wanted to say.

"That's terrible." Leo said softly, looking at his knees with a saddened look.

Abby nodded. "Yeah… it's bad to watch them, too."

There was a short silence as they thought. They continued their pull-ups, up and down up and down, repeating it over and over again. It was so old now that the two turtles were moving in sync. Her hands were starting to become sweaty from holding onto their feet, so she tried shifting. But just as she leaned forward to settle back, both the boys, going at the same time, hit their heads against hers just as they came back up and as she was about to lean back out of the way. They all yelped and the turtles dropped back down, putting their hands on their foreheads while she rubbed hers.

Then they looked at each other, stunned and confused at what happened. But, as a smile twitched at her lips, they all three suddenly burst into laughter. She sat down on her rear, the boys remaining on their shells on the floor.

Splinter opened his eyes. He had been meditating in the spot where he had remained the whole time they trained, and hearing laughter brought him out of his trance. He looked over at the three teenagers, laughing and smiling. His at first sharp gaze, which was what he was going to wear when he told them to get back to training, suddenly softened. His sons were laughing, happy again. Abigale no longer looked nervous being around them, and she was on her back herself laughing. The sighed pleased the rat, and he smiled.

"A-Are you okay?" Leo asked, still laughing but sitting up and looking at her forehead where there was now a small red mark with concern, actually two from where both turtles had head-butted her. She cringed when he touched the marks, but giggled quietly and nodded, smiling at Raph as he sat up with happy tears in his eyes.

"Yeah," she said through breaths. "I am so sorry… Are you two okay?"

Raph and Leo nodded in reply. They couldn't help but laugh at her as the marks on her head began to show up more, and she rubbed her head, letting her bangs fall in her face to hide the marks. She giggled in embarrassment, looking down at her knees. But then Raph huffed, and looked at his older brother wish sudden serious eyes.

"Hey… I'm sorry about what I said… and for being a jerk to ya…" he said, not really looking him in the eyes but instead looking at his lap again.

Leo blinked at him, taken aback by the sudden apology. But feeling touched all the same and actually sorry himself, he smiled back at his brother and he placed a hand on his shoulder comfortingly. When Raph looked up at him, he showed a meek smile, and he put his own hand on Leo's shoulder. Abby smiled in relief. She was glad that they made up. Even though Raph could be a jerk at times, she knew that he loved his brother, and Leo loved him just as much. She would hate to see them break apart from each other.

"Your training is over for today." Splinter suddenly spoke up.

They all looked at their Sensei in confusion, but after a moment they let what he said settle into their minds and they all fell backwards in sheer relief, mainly the boys. Abigale sat back up and looked at the two. She thought about what all they had done, and questioned exactly why Splinter had worked them so hard for such a long time. He had made them all train at first, but then let the other two stop. Then that was when it hit her. He had told Leo and Raph that training was over right when they had made up and everything was fixed. He wasn't just punishing them, he was making them come closer together! He was making them train together so that they could find a moment to say sorry to one another and become siblings again and forget about the rivalry. When she realized what Splinter had been doing, she smiled knowingly.

"What?" Leo asked, blinking at her curiously.

She shook her head. "Nothing, not a thing."

But he knew that she was thinking of something, and he was dead set on finding out what it was. "No, what are you thinking of?"

She shook her head again while smiling, a little faster this time and while she forced herself to stand up. "It's nothing!" He and Raph stood up, but Leo was the one that followed her.

"C'mon! Tell me!"

"Nope."

"Okay, I know that you're thinking of something now."

"Yup. And you ain't gonna find out!"

"Wanna bet?"


	5. Chapter 5

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**Getting Rid of Hiccups**

Several weeks passed by, slow for some but too fast for others. For Abigale, it was both. She grew closer to the turtles and Splinter, and even became close enough to April for her to consider her a sister-like model despite her mutation. But for the mutated girl, she felt like she fit in. All the turtles were mutated, Splinter was mutated, and April had known them for a good long time, so she felt at home. She decided to not worry about ever returning back to her boyfriend, and had even given up on ever seeing her parents ever again.

But Leo never gave up on her. He'd tell her that she'd see them again, and if she was still mutated, they would have to listen. But she would only reply that she'd probably remain like this her whole life, which she thought wasn't so bad. She was still herself, still the same person as she had been as a human. Besides, she liked being close to him. Being similar to him made her feel better, feel like she wasn't alone. He was always with her, at her side or right behind her. She'd go on patrol with them often, and after she got the hang of jumping from rooftop to rooftop, she was able to keep up with him. They'd even play pranks on each other, and they'd have wars on who would win. During those wars, she would hire Mikey and Donnie to help her out. He and Raph would team up and figure out a way to go against their young prankster brother, their geeky and actually smart one, and the crafty and evil mutant girl.

It had become obvious that the two had something for each other. The way they looked at each other, the way they lightly flirted every now and then, the way they joked and laughed and talked… Everything they did involved one another, from sharing a training session to just taking a walk on the surface. Raph, Mikey, and even sometimes Donnie sometimes picked at him about it every now and then. April even joked with Abby about it. Abby would deny it, and say that even if he did like her, there was still that thought of returning back to her human self that might get in the way of the relationship if it happened. And for Leo and his brothers, he'd try to pull off the technical 'she's not my girlfriend' statement and then go on to lecture his brothers about it just to annoy them if that didn't work. But… the two hadn't made any moves on each other, they stayed out of personal space, and they respected each other. They both just weren't sure if they were ready to actually admit to each other yet, despite the constant hints. Really, Abby still remained shy about the subject. She kept to herself sometimes, and looked to Leo for help with heart problems. He was a great friend and seemed to know everything.

April taught her some fighting skills that Splinter had taught her and, with Abby having taken karate as a child and having some experience in fighting, the mutant lizard seemed to evolve in fighting. She mixed it with some ninjutsu and she created her own fighting style, learning from Leo and the other turtles and she even watched Splinter whenever he trained with his sons and April. Abigale found a love for learning to fight, loved the art of fighting. She loved taking her skills to another level, testing herself and seeing how far she could push herself. But sometimes, she would push herself too hard.

"Ouch!"

"Abby, you keep squirming and you're gonna make it hurt worse." Donnie warned, trying to wrap her ankle. But whenever he touched that sensitive area where she had pulled that tendon, she would jerk her leg and he'd have to start all over.

She sighed. "Sorry, Donnie…"

He smiled and waved a hand at her. "Don't sweat it. Its fine as long as I get your foot wrapped up."

"How many times have we told you to take it easy in there?" Leo asked, leaning against the wall next to her. She smiled up at him meekly, raising her shoulders in a small gesture.

"I stopped counting after the fourth."

He rolled his eyes with a knowing smile on his face. But then Donnie finished up wrapping her ankle and patted her knee softly with a smile on his face. "Alright, it's done. Abby, why don't you take a break from training until your leg heals up? It should at least take a few days for it to gain some strength in that area."

She sighed, resting her chin on her palm as she rested her elbow on her knee. "Aw… I guess I should." She looked down at her ankle which was now wrapped. She was mainly just glad that it would only take a few days for it to heal mostly. She then smiled.

"Thanks, Donnie."

"Anytime!" he replied with a bright grin before going back to his computer. She tested out her leg to see how much weight she could put on it for a while before she started walking toward the doorway. Leo smiled after her, and followed close behind.

"You know, you don't have to be on my every step whenever I'm injured or something." She smiled, not turning around to look at him.

He grinned at her back. "I know, but I still do it."

She huffed, grinning and shaking her head before she began walking again. She'd been trying to do some stretches earlier, trying to work on being more flexible. She was pretty good at it, and sometimes the boys wondered how she even had bones. But the activity had gone wrong and her ankle twisted and she pulled her tendon. She was already feeling fine, but she knew that she was limping lightly on her left leg. She knew that she would have to go easy on it, which annoyed her because she hated limiting herself.

She sat on the couch, and he sat down beside her. There was a long moment of silence as Mikey watched TV, some superhero show was on. It was becoming dull, and she was bored out of her mind. Then she looked at the blue-banded turtle beside her. He looked in the corner of his eye when he noticed her head move, his eyes gleaming. She pretended not to notice him for a moment, making him curious and lean close to look at her face. She loved how cute he could be when he was curious, like a kitten with big blue eyes. She finally smiled at him, and then leaned over and rested her head against the opposite arm of the couch. He smiled back, and leaned back and continued to watch TV.

These were a few of the moments she enjoyed, sitting on the couch in peace and having some time to her thoughts. She liked being active, but she also liked the calmness of the moment, the moment that she knew she was alive. She liked being in this place, and she called it her home now. She still slept on the couch, but she was perfectly fine with that. She always had a friend to talk to, and knew that she was safe from the Kraang. She still couldn't understand why all of this had to happen to her. She didn't think too much about it now, but it still crossed her mind every so often. She'd almost forgotten her normal life. What was it compared to this one?

Nothing… she loved this new life, despite a few things that she needed to be worried about including the Kraang. But she knew that she had her friends to look after her, and that she would be fine as long as she remained in the lair.

_Hic!_

She blinked as Leo looked at her with a questioning expression. She shrugged in reply and hoped he'd drop the subject, and he shrugged and looked back to the TV. She coughed, hoping that the annoying sound that she had made wouldn't happen again. It kind of hurt her chest. There was another silence, and by now Space Heroes was on. It was showing a panicking scene with people running around because of a monster terrorizing them.

"_Captain, what are we going to do?!_" _Slap! _The supposedly captain of the team slapped the poor man wearing glasses, making a harsh red mark appear.

"_Get a hold of yourself! We'll get through this!_" the captain shouted at the smaller man. Abigale laughed quietly at the scene and the look on Leo's face as he watched the show. He looked so intrigued in the show, so engulfed that he had no clue of the world around him. His eyes gleamed, and a small smile was on his face.

_Hic!_

She froze, and saw him look at her again. They looked at each other for a long and awkward moment. Leo wasn't sure what to think of the sound she made, and she wasn't sure how to ditch the subject again.

"Are you alright?" he asked slowly, arching one side of his mask in a questionable fashion.

She nodded at him with a small smile. "Yeah. Why?"

"You're hiccupping."

"So?" she huffed, looking away distractedly. He tilted his head, a small smile playing at the corner of his mouth.

"So, is there a way I can help you with that?" he said in a not exactly worried tone, but it was lower and expecting.

She rolled her eyes at his concern for her, but smiled all the same. He was always like that, always making sure she was alright or if there was something wrong that he could help with. He would always get that softer tone in his voice, and his eyes would collect a hint of hope.

"No, I can get rid of them myself." She then took in a deep breath and held it. She sat there for a moment, Leo watching her with interest before she finally let it out. For a moment, no sound erupted from her. They just sat there for a while, and he almost smiled expectantly. After that while, she smiled in triumph.

"See? I told you that I could-," _Hic!_

She clapped a hand over her mouth, but then groaned at the hiccup that surprised her. She buried her face so that she wouldn't have to look at Leo's grin as he chuckled at her futile attempt to get rid of her hiccups, and also to hide her slightly reddening face.

"So, you can get rid of them yourself, huh?" he repeated, smiling in amusement as she remained to hide her face. He thought that the sound of her hiccups was hilarious, and the face she made with them made it all the better. They almost sounded like abrupt squeaks, and she would jump whenever one erupted. Her eyes would grow wide and she would have this sudden look on her face like she had no clue what had happened to her.

"Shut up…" she said through the fabric of the couch.

"I hate hiccups." Mikey said suddenly, breaking the two's conversation. He'd been listening to them, but was too interested in the TV show to butt in. Now that there was a commercial, he could add his own opinion while he took a bite of old pizza from the box beside him.

Leo leaned forward and looked at Mikey with a knowing expression. "I think we all do, Mikey. Maybe we need to help her out with hers."

Abby sighed and smiled at him. "I don't need help, Leo. They… They'll go away on their own." _Hic!_

"Uh-huh… but how long could that take?" he asked in that lower tone. Abby stared at him for a long while, considering his offer to help her with her little problem. How would he help? Nobody could just wish them away. Maybe he was talking about Donnie and his lab equipment, or maybe he had some kind of drink that would make them go away. You never know about that inventing turtle these days.

"Raaaahhhh!" A figure jumped from behind the couch with his arms in the air, wearing a white hockey mask.

"Ahhh!" Leo, Abby, and Mikey all screamed shrilly. Without thinking about it, Abby jumped into Leo's lap and clung to his neck with her tail curled around his waist while he instinctively held her close to him tightly with one arm wrapped around her waist and another around her shoulder, their eyes wide and their irises and pupils constricted. Mikey had dove under the blanket that was on the floor with him, covering his face and trembling under it.

"Your hiccups gone yet?" Raph asked cheekily with the mask tilted back as he leaned over the back of the couch, smirking as he studied how she and Leo were clinging to one another. It took a moment to register what had just happened, and when it did, both Leo and Abby turned red and instantly released each other. Mikey peeked out from under his blanket, now grinning at the two and laughing as well. Abby then glared at the laughing red-masked turtle.

"You jerk!" she shouted at him, whacking on the side of the head hard. He laughed it off and hurried over to the other side of the couch before she could hit him again.

"Dude, that was so awesome!" Mikey grinned, giving his hot-headed brother a high-three. Leo was silent, his mind still trying to put together everything through the shock. His face heated up like it was on fire, his hands trembling a little on his knees. He dared to glance at the mutant girl beside him, and she had done so at the same time and they locked gazes. He smiled faintly, and she meekly did the same.

_Hic!_

They blinked at each other as she jerked from the hiccup. He then grinned, and she sighed in defeat. She hung her head, letting her hair fall in her face and her shoulders slump. Okay… Raph scaring her didn't help like she had actually hoped.

"Well, I tried." Raph chuckled, wearing his usual smirk.

Abby tapped her tail in agitation against the couch, actually pouting as she had her arms and legs crossed and her eyes staring at the floor. She hiccupped again, making her body jerk slightly in her spot. Raph grinned and came to her side.

"Aw, you ain't mad at me, are ya?" he asked, poking her side.

She squeaked and stiffened, her eyes growing wide and her tail instantly wrapping around her sides and her arms lowering.

Raph blinked at her, frowning in confusion. "What the shell was that?"

She cleared her throat nervously, flicking her hair out of her face. "Nothing."

He and Leo looked at each other. Leo looked just about as stumped as he was, his eyes blank as he looked from her to his brother. Raph thought for a moment, but then grinned evilly, poking an exposed part of her side again. He got the same reaction from before, and she slapped his hand away.

"Quit it!" she snapped as she hiccupped again, her face turning red like a tomato as she looked down at her lap. Raph snickered and jabbed her side again with a finger, making her jump and try to scoot over away from him, ending up with her back against Leo's side as Raph continued to do this. "Leo, can you make your brother stop!"

Leo took a moment to consider helping her. If he helped her, the fun would be over. It he didn't, he may get to be part of this. He then grinned as he met his younger brother's evil gaze, and he hummed.

"Hm… Nah." He then grabbed her wrists and held them up, and with that Raph proceeded to run his fingers up and down her sides. She erupted into a fit of laughter and squeals, trying to kick out and push his hands away. But he soon got help when the fun-loving Mikey joined in, pinning her legs and tail down. She wriggled in their grasp, but with no success of being released.

"Hehehe! Guys! Hahahaha! Stop!" she screamed, giggling uncontrollably as she swayed her waist from side to side trying to escape.

Raph changed tactics and sat down on the couch, Mikey letting go of her legs only long enough to let him get situated. Raph then wrapped his arm around her ankles, making sure that she would be able to move. He nodded at Leo, who twisted around enough that she was leaning against his plastron and used one hand to hold her small wrists together. She groaned and tried to jerk out of his grasp.

"Don't even think about it, Leonardo!"

Too late. He then wrapped his free arm around her, and dug his fingers into her belly. She immediately screamed and tried to struggle, arching her back and trying to lean away from him. Mikey helped out by running his fingers up and down her sides and made her jerk, and Raph scratched the soles of her feet. She had no way of getting out of this, and she squealed with laughter as the boys continued their torture on her.

"Please! Hehehe! Quit! Stop! Guys!" She didn't know what to think. First it had to be the hiccups, then Raph scaring her half to death, and now this. What did she do to deserve this?! All she could do was giggle and laugh like a lunatic, and bear this for as long as she could before they let her go.

This continued on for about five minutes. Leo pinched and scratched her sides and belly along with Mikey, and Raph kept her feet still and continued his work. She was hysterical, and had given up on trying to make them stop now. She knew that no matter what she did, she wasn't going to escape. They were ninjas for crying out loud! And had been trained by the best at that… So she was basically screwed.

Until, one last thought came into her mind.

"Donnie! Donnie, help!" she cried, squealing again when Leo tickled under her arm.

Donnie appeared at the doorway of his lab. He'd heard all of the commotion, but having been so engulfed in his work for repairing his robot, he hadn't thought to emerge from his lab. But seeing the scene before him made a large smile spread over his face, and he leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. He'd known about her having hiccups, and honestly he had expected them to come to him for help with that problem. But he didn't expect it to turn into a torture for Abigale. He chuckled at her laughter, because every now and then he'd hear a hiccup mixed with it. It was too good not to listen to for a moment. Too bad April wasn't there to see it.

He then blushed, actually picturing himself and April in the position Leo and Abby were in, with her leaning against his chest while he tickled her. Okay… he really needed to control his obsession of April… He shook his head to clear his thoughts. Then as he again heard Abby calling his name, he laughed and ran into the room.

"Don't worry, Abby! I'm here!" he then pounced on Raph from behind the couch. Raph yelped, and flipped Donnie over onto the floor as a reflex. But he then grinned and jumped on his brother, already starting to tickle his exposed sides. Donnie shrieked and wriggled underneath him. Mikey laughed at his other two brothers. While he was distracted, Abby used her tail and flicked his face like a whip, stunning him and making him fall backwards. Deciding that maybe helping Donnie was a better idea, he lunged and tackled Raph.

Now having more room and able to move her whole body, she struggled even harder. He laughed as he tried to hold on to her, but she twisted around and used her feet to push off his chest and plop onto the other end of the couch. She took in deep and quick breaths, trying to calm her racing heart as she sat with her tail curled around her knees. The blue-masked turtle chuckled at her expression. She was red, her eyes wide, and her chest rose and fell as she inhaled and exhaled. He couldn't contain his laughter and he fell against the arm of the couch laughing at her.

Abby looked at him, a few emotions flickering over her face before a devilish grin grew. He looked at her, but then his laughter faded into nervous giggling as he held his hands toward her.

"Oh no! No, no, no! Abby, don't you dare!" he warned, but before he could do a thing to stop her, she pounced. He found himself laughing loudly as she dug her fingers in the exploded parts around his underarms and even a little under his shell. She straddled his waist, and he tried to use his hands to grab hers, but she always found a way to slither out of his grasp.

So the tickle rumble was on. Every turtle, and lizard, for his or herself. They jumped on whoever they could reach, tickling them to death until someone else intervened. It went on and on for at least fifteen minutes, the living room filled with laughter. Mikey would be on Raph, and then Raph would be on Mikey. Leo would escape Abby and jump on Raph, and then Mikey would jump on Leo. That was when Raph joined Mikey in teaming up against Leo. Donnie would catch his breath, and then catch Abby, and then she'd turn the tables and would be torturing him. Then it'd all switch, everybody pouncing on different people.

From a corner, Splinter couldn't help but smile as he watched as his sons and Abigale had their little war. It was amusing to watch, and it lifted his heart to hear their laughter. It made him feel better that there was no danger at the very moment, and that he could relax. Seeing the smiles on everyone's faces… It just made him happy. He didn't want to disturb them, so he left them, and went back to his room to meditate.

Finally, everybody was exhausted and panting on the floor with grins on their faces and having after-giggles. Their lungs hurt and their bodies ached from the activity. Raph was lying on his back with Mikey lying across his plastron with Donnie leaning against Raph's side. Leo was propped up against the couch while Abby was leaning against his side, his arm draped over her shoulder and her arm wrapped around his chest, both with large smiles on their faces and their eyes closed.

There was a long peaceful silence, the other three turtles having already fallen asleep. Leo and Abby remained awake, but it was obvious that they were starting to drift off. He was watching _Space Heroes _as it played the end of the show, Abby nuzzling her head against his plastron. His face heated up when she hugged him tighter, and he allowed himself to hug her closer with his arm. But then he suddenly chuckled.

"What?" she mumbled, looking up at him with sleepy eyes.

He smiled down at her. "Your hiccups are gone."

She giggled, now noticing that they were in fact gone. He laughed softly with her, and then he felt her lean her head against is chest. She fell asleep with a smile on her face. Her hair was messed up, some of it frizzed and in her face. He brushed a few strands out of her face, and then he leaned his head against the top of hers. Then, after a minute or so, he too fell asleep with a small smile pulling at his lips.


	6. Chapter 6

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**I've changed the title name for each document in **_**Interesting**_**, but they are still the same story. Nothing else changed. Just wanted to let you know before you ask questions. Thanks!**

**New Foe, New Trial Part 1**

Abby looked up at the sky as she casually walked along the rooftop. The clouds covered up most of the stars and moon, making the city a little darker than usual. But it wasn't out of the ordinary. The sounds of the streets, cats meowing in the alley's, dogs barking in apartment buildings and music from others, people shouting and getting drunk at bars and walking home acting like nutcases, it was all normal now. Used to, she'd be paranoid about all of these sounds. She used to think that any sound that was close to her that didn't sound normal immediately was considered a threat. Now she knew all of these noises and chaotic eruptions in the night. They were normal.

The air was slightly humid, but besides that, it was a nice night for a routine walk. The others considered it patrol, and they were actually up farther scouting ahead. She let herself fall behind to enjoy the quietness that was actually quite rare in the lair. The boys were always roughhousing or arguing about something old or something new, something important something unimportant. No argument was completely the same, but it was always about something.

She was glad that Splinter was always around to talk to about it sometimes. Sometimes their arguments would become too much, and she'd need someone to talk to during those times. Whenever the ninja turtles were upset about something, they were down on it for a good while before they came back together and made up. Splinter was always saying rhymes or metaphors to soothe her mind, and she liked just listening to him. He was just one of those people who had that good aura around them, and it was just nice to be around them. April was a good listener too, and she was good to offer advice about dealing with them. Being round her age being a bonus, she had some of the same feelings that she had.

She wondered if the guys were doing alright on their own. She knew that they were ninjas and had been trained by the best, but still, being boys, you never know what could happen. Boys could be so unpredictable sometimes. She also wondered how many arguments that they may have gotten in so far. It wouldn't take much to make Raph mad, and the others trying to calm the situation down sometimes only made it worse.

"Boys…" she grinned, shaking her head knowingly. She jumped and climbed onto top of a nearby chimney, making sure she had her balance straight before she looked around. She had hoped that she'd see them from here, but she guessed that they were going faster than she had previously thought. It was actually kind of surprising with the way Leo was about her. He was always coming back to check up on her. This time he and his brothers had been gone for about ten minutes, but she wasn't too worried. She could easily take care of herself. But even still, she hoped that they hadn't had gotten into trouble, being the thrill-seekers that they were.

Hopping back down off of the chimney, she began walking again. Then she heard some music coming from the building that she was on top of, hip hop or something similar to it. For entertainment, she took a few dance steps, doing a small twirl and laughing at herself for being so childish. But she loved being able to do things on her own without having to be judged. But then again, living with a bunch of mutant ninja turtles, their Sensei a rat, and the occasional human girl that came to visit, there wasn't really anything that could be judged of her. In the mutant world, she was normal.

She decided that maybe she should pick up the pace, so she went into a jog, jumping from rooftop to rooftop and being careful in avoiding the chimneys and television antennas. Her footsteps were more confident now as she ran. She had no choice to be make them confident steps, because one slip could lead her to splat on the concrete some feet below. And that wouldn't be a pretty sight. She ran for a good while, and was surprised she hadn't come across the turtles yet. Surely they hadn't had gone far.

"Leo? Mikey?" she called, jumping down from a taller building to a smaller one. "Raph? Donnie? Guys, you there?"

No answer came, and she huffed. Maybe they were testing her. Leo, Raph, and Donnie once sat a trap for Mikey as a training exercise for him, and when she watched, she saw Mikey go for a random piece of pizza that they had sat as bait. When Mikey was about to take a bite of the pizza, Leo came out of nowhere and took him by surprise. Maybe they were waiting for her to step in the wrong spot at the right time and they'd have her cornered in one of their traps.

But to play it safe, she took out her T-phone and dialed Donnie's number. She held it up to her ear for a moment to listen to it ring. She waited for less than a minute, but nobody picked up. Not to mention she didn't hear a ringtone go off nearby, so she was now starting to become concerned.

"Guys, if this is some kind of joke it's not funny. Come out." she shouted, crossing her arms and looking around.

"I don't think they're able to right now, sweetheart."

She spun around and looked around for the source of the voice. Her eyes wide, they darted back and forth to different locations before settling on a shadowy figure leaned against a smoking chimney. It was around her height, and even about her size around.

"Who are you?" she demanded, frowning at the figure as it stepped out. It was a girl with black hair that was cut short with pieces hanging in front of her ears, and in the back she had some blonde closer to her neck and behind her ears. She had black and red markings around and above her eyes and she was wearing all black clothes with silver metal armor-looking pieces covering her chest, thighs, lower legs and arms. She also had a single blade strapped to her back.

"You seriously don't know who I am? Jeez, don't your turtles ever talk about the enemies they fight?" the girl said coolly, smiling mockingly at her.

Abigale thought long and hard. Enemies… Who were some female enemies that they had mentioned? Then one in particular stood out most in her mind, and she stood up a little straighter in a calm stance.

"You wouldn't happened to be Karai, would you?"

"How could you tell?" the girl huffed, jumping down from the higher level of the rooftop and sliding to a stop in front of Abby. The mutant girl narrowed her eyes, her pupils slightly constricting.

"Wow, you're a mutant…! You're a new one." Karai said, walking in a circle around her while she studied over her new find. Abby lifted a corner of her lip, but it was far from anything close to a smile. She had a feeling that just maybe this assassin may have had something to do with the boys' sudden silence. She already had a bad feeling about her, and she wanted nothing to do with her. But from the way Karai looked at her with this thoughtful and even wicked small smile, she knew that she had no choice but to hear her out.

"Yeah, you got a problem with mutants?" she replied dully, not looking at her and instead looking in the corner of her eye, her shoulders stiff and her fists clenched.

Karai turned a corner of her lip up, arching a brow and lowering the other. "I do have one with the turtles. But you… you are quite a different story. Actually, I'm more interested in you than them at the moment. I'm sure my dad would be, too."

The mutant shifted her eyes to look at the girl. "Shredder?"

Karai put her weight on one foot, resting her hands on her hips in an almost sassy manner. Abby remained in her stiff stance, her tail swishing in agitation every now and then. She could see something in this villain's eyes, something that gave her a bad feeling. She was with Shredder? Splinter had spoken of the Shredder and this girl Karai, and the turtles even talked about them sometimes. But Abby never thought to take their words to heart during some of those conversations. Now they were all coming back to her, reminding her that this was a dangerous enemy, and was not one to be messed with or underestimated, according to Leo.

"That's right, sweetheart."

"Don't call me that."

She frowned. "Then what's your name?"

"None of your business. Where's my friends?" Abby snapped, harrowing her eyes fully and showing her pupils almost slits. Karai was a bit taken aback by her sudden reaction, but all the same she huffed and grinned casually. This girl was straight to the point, huh? Shredder would like her. But by the way she was aggressive towards her, she would be a hard one to win over.

So she shrugged as if nothing was wrong, walking off towards the edge of the building. "Your friends? The turtles? Heh… Some friends to leave you all alone here with no protecting, huh?"

Abigale wasn't taking any of it. She turned away and began to walk the opposite direction, assuming that with Karai's attitude she wouldn't get anything out of her. Besides, she'd been told to steer clear of her if she ever came across her. No sense in staying near when she had more important things to worry about, like finding the boys and making sure that they were alright. She could still feel Karai's eyes glued to her back, and she ignored the urge to turn around to look at her. She didn't want to look at her, and she would feel much better if she had her friends with her at the moment.

"But I do know where they are."

She halted in her tracks. Her words echoed in her mind, and she was hit with a sick feeling of dread. Then that was it. They had probably been captured by the Foot Clan, and she was left to deal with the rest. Jeez, talk about bad luck. But she turned her head slightly to the side so that she could see Karai from the corner of her eye.

Karai smiled triumphantly, knowing that she had the mutant's full attention now. "Yeah, you heard me. Come with me, and I might lead you to them."

"Sorry, unless you give me proof that you know where they are, I'm not coming."

"Alright, here." Karai said snappily. She was starting to become agitated by the mutant's attitude as well. She was actually reconsidering taking her back to Shredder. She took out a little devise from her belt and marched over to the mutant, making the lizard girl take a step back in instinct. Seeing how alert she was and how suspicious she was, Karai slowed her pace and held out her devise.

Abby narrowed her eyes more to look at the screen, and her eyes widened slightly when she saw Leo. He was upside down and tied up, hanging from a rope by his feet and with duct tape over his mouth. He was frowning by the way his eyes looked, and he was swinging back and forth as if trying to get out, but his arms were taped to his body, and he couldn't move. But that wasn't all. He was beaten black and red, bruises all over his body and scratches on his face and arms. His shell was scratched up, showing that he'd been through a rough time. His eye even looked a little swollen, and he looked a little weak.

"See? I told you. I know where he is, and I can take you to him." Karai frowned at her expectantly. Abby glared back at her as she leaned away, feeling her blood starting to bubble in her veins at the sight of him looking so pitiful. He must had been overwhelmed, and beaten until he couldn't fight back. She was about to reply with something aggressive and demand to know where the other three were.

"But, you have to go through a trial first."

The mutant gave her a questioning look, expecting a long story from this enemy, and she also expected a little more than a single 'trial'. "Explain."

"Leonardo is the final to a course we set. I've been watching you, and my father wants to know what you can do."

"Get to the point." Abby barked, making Karai glare at her. She didn't care about what her father thought or what even she thought. She just wanted to know the details of the situation and what she had to do. Karai could see it as well, and quickly went on.

"You have to find the other three turtles all over the city. They are hidden well, and tied up. You have to find each of them, before I can hint you on where your Leonardo is."

_That doesn't sound so bad… _Abigale thought, waiting for Karai to continue.

"But, there's a twist. When you find them, you have to win them."

"Win them?"

Karai nodded. "You have to fight for them before you can set them free. You rescue the three turtles before you get to Leonardo under two hours, you will be given a hint to where he is."

"Fine."

Karai blinked at her when she heard the sudden word. She couldn't believe how quick she was to agree to do this, but looking into her eyes, she knew that there was a fierce fire that roared in her. She could see that she was clearly angry, and it only made the villain sneer with her golden brown eyes locked with the mutant's cool blue ones.

"Prepare yourself. You will start in one hour, and the clock will be ticking. Meet me in this same spot at that time, and don't keep me waiting." Then Karai turned away and burst into a jog before she jumped off the edge of the building without another word.

Abby growled, and then turned back to the way she came, and ran towards one of the lids on the ground leading to the sewer lines. She ran for a little bit before she reached an alley where nobody was seen, and then she slipped into the hole and closed the lid above her. How was she going to tell Splinter? How would he react? To be truthful, at that moment she didn't care. She just didn't. The only thing that went through her mind was that she had to prepare herself and get out there to find the turtles. Seeing Leo like that… He looked so weak, so beaten. He was exhausted, too tired to fight back if he was given the chance. She didn't want to imagine the others like that. Raph was a tough guy, strong and hard-willed. His anger seemed to make him stronger, but he had his flaws in battle. Donnie was a great thinker, knew tactics and fighting styles of the Foot Clan, but he could get carried away and become overwhelmed. Mikey was a small guy, didn't take much seriously unless it was downright terrible and he could be a bit clumsy despite being a ninja. Him being so innocent, she hated the thought of him being the same way Leo had been.

"What do you mean that this is a trial? Do you know where my sons are?" Splinter demanded, following Abby as she strapped the white leather belt around her waist whole she walked over to the table. She had told him about the situation, but he still wanted to know the deep down details. He couldn't help but be terribly concerned, and wanted to help her in her task with Karai. He wanted to find his boys, his sons. He was mad about what was going on, but he knew that he had to remain calm about the news. So he was questioning her as she collected the things she needed. She wanted to tell him, but she knew that if she stuck around to tell him every single part of the story, it only meant that she had less time to find the boys. She had only a limited time of two hours, and with every minute that went by was a minute closer to the end of the two hours. She knew that she had to meet Karai at the place she met her, but when she had explained to Abby what the trial was, she was being serious. She knew that there was no fooling around.

"Master Splinter, I cannot explain everything right now. All I know is that they are out there somewhere in the city, and I have to find them. I can't just do nothing." She paused abruptly, her frown softening and her expression becoming almost saddened. "You should've seen him… He looked like he'd been hit by a train. He looked like he would pass out at any minute… If that's what he looked like, then I don't want to try to imagine the others' conditions. All I can do now is go out there and hope to God that I can find them in time before Karai gets bored and tried something new! And I am not for one going to let her hurt my family."

Splinter's eyes widened a little at her last statement. Her family… That was a true statement made from the heart. He let his eyes fall a little, his gaze turning thoughtful as he sighed to calm his headache that had begun when she had brought him from his meditation, and had grown worse when she told him the news about the boys. His heart ached at the thought of his sons being vulnerable and not able to defend themselves. He knew that they could take care of themselves, but if they had actually been captured by the Foot Clan and scattered throughout the city, he knew that the Shredder must have been the one doing the planning, or the boys would have taken care of the Foot soldiers easily.

Then he looked back at her. He could see the determination in her eyes, the fire that he always saw in his sons' eyes whenever they had an important mission that they all knew could make a difference in their fate. It was a look that told him that she would never change her mind to stay out of this, and that she would look all over the world is she had to. He stared into her eyes for a moment, but then remembering that time was limited, he walked away hurriedly. He left the room for a moment, leaving her alone to tighten the white belt around her waist. She then picked up the white tape off the table, and wrapped her knuckles, wrists, and around her ankles. She then picked up the ninja stars off the table, putting them in the pouches in the belt on her hip. She also picked up a few exploding eggs that Donnie had made some time ago and put them in separate pouches. She dreaded having to go through this. Though this was not a mission appointed by Master Splinter, she felt that this was the first mission that she had to go through. But in a way, it was. This was her first major even within the ninjas, and she knew that she would have to have all senses on alert, and would have to be ready for the expected and mostly the unexpected.

A minute later while she was tying her hair up in a ponytail, Splinter came back holding a pair of wooden objects in one hand and a white cloth in another. He handed her the wooden objects, and she recognized them as a pair of Tonfa, solid black with white flower designs. She knew how to handle them, as he had made her try them out once. She took them, and held them with hesitance as she looked back at him. He had a soft frown on his face, his eyes full of concern and were stern. She understood what he meant, and she strapped the Tonfa to each side of her hip.

Then, he held out his hands holding the white cloth. She looked down at it, and saw that it was a white mask much similar to the boys'. She looked up at him with eyes searching for reassurance that he was truly accepting that she was going to be doing this.

"I only want you to do two things for me, Abigale." he began with a hard, but yet soft voice, his eyes locked onto hers in a grip that made her freeze like stone and give him her full attention. "Please bring my boys home, and all of you come home safely."

Abigale was silent, but took the mask from his hands. She stood there for a moment, and looked up at the mutant rat. She saw the worry in his eyes, and she hardened hers with a single nod, and tied the white band around her head. She then looked back up at him, a small but yet serious smile pulling at her lip. She could see that he was hesitant, that he probably wasn't sure about letting her do this on her own. But she knew that she had no choice. She saw that he was worried.

So when he didn't expect it, she did a little hop and wrapped her arms around his neck in an affectionate hug, as he was so tall compared to her. He was shocked for a moment as her weight pulled him down slightly so that she was at least on her toes, and he was not entirely sure how to react. But after he processed what she was doing, he sighed deeply and put his hands on her back in a way of returning the gesture.

"I'll bring them back, Sensei. I promise."


	7. Chapter 7

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**New Foe, New Trial Part 2**

Karai looked at her device to look at the time. It had been about forty minutes already, and she was beginning to wonder if the mutant lizard was going to show up anytime soon. She hated to be kept waiting, and she tapped her foot against rooftop while she crossed his arms.

Just on time, she saw a shadow appear on a high building next to the one she was standing on. She smiled expectantly, but when the figure stepped out from the darkness, she didn't expect for the mutant to be actually prepared in the way she could see. She had weapons and a belt and mask, bringing out the blue in her eyes and making the anger that was there before much more noticeable. She now really looked like a ninja.

But Karai just smiled smugly. "About time you showed up. Nice getup." But even as she spoke, she saw that the mutant didn't care about her words, so she frowned at her. "Keep up."

With that she sprinted off. Without hesitation Abigale ran after her, keeping up just about with ease, but with the other girl having more experience with this sort of thing she was better at maneuvering over the rooftops. But Abigale with her determined spirit and angered heart made her all the more willing to make herself run faster so that she was running just behind the assassin.

A few minutes later, they arrived to the top of the giant company building. Abby looked out at the city. She almost doubted that… maybe she would never find them in such a huge place. New York was one of the largest cities in the United States. How was she going to find them here?! But, she had promised Splinter that she'd bring them back home. She knew that he said that they all, including her, had to come home safely, but she decided even before he even told her that that she would get them home even if it cost the mutant her life.

"Alright, you know what to do. Remember, you have two hours to find and rescue each of the three turtles in the city. If you find them, you have to fight Foot soldiers to get them. Understand?" Karai explained quickly, not looking at her company until she finished speaking.

"I'm not stupid. I'll be back to kick your butt after I find my friends." Abigale said bluntly, taking something out of her belt. She had snatched the object, or actually objects, but it was actually one object that had to be put together, right before she left the lair. She began putting it together, latching it to her arms and waist.

Karai tilted her head in curiosity at the clamps and straps the mutant was putting on herself. "What is that?"

Abigale didn't reply. She wore a blank and stern expression as she secured the straps connected from the tape on her wrists to each side of her hip on little hooks, then down to her ankles where there were another pair of hooks that connected to the same straps. Then she walked to the edge. She looked over the edge, and she felt her heart beat much faster than it already had been. She'd never been so high before, but she knew that this was probably the best way of finding her friends, so she knew that she had to take the chance. She stood straight, and took the deepest breath she had ever taken to calm her nerves. Then, she jumped.

Karai's eyes widened. Was she trying to get herself killed?! What was the point of that?! She ran to the edge, looking over with a frown of confusion. Abigale was freefalling, now diving as she kept her hands at her sides and her feet together. She let herself fall for a while, until she snapped something hooked to the hooks on her hips with her fingers, connected them to her wrists, and then held out her arms. Right as she did, a webbing of a sort flapped connected from her wrists, hip, and then to her ankles opened up and caught the air.

She suddenly came to almost a halt in the air, now gliding and letting the force of the fall and the wind carry her over buildings and streets high in the air. She used her tail, which she attached a fin-like sail to, to steer right and left. She tested the gadget out, veering left and right, up and down, and then diving and adding some speed when she felt like it was safe enough. She zipped through the air, staying above the buildings and narrowing her eyes so that she almost had eagle vision.

"Don't worry guys… I'm coming." she whispered to herself, mainly to reassure herself. She was actually worried that she wouldn't be able to find them. This city… it was just too big. She would have to search every building without getting caught by humans, creep through each alley twice, check everywhere she'd checked twice. This was much worse that those hide-and-seek games she used to play as a child. This was almost ridiculous. But… she was doing it for her friends. She was doing it for Splinter. She was doing it because she knew that if she didn't, she would never forgive herself.

Fifteen minutes passed, and still no sign of them. She tilted her head side to side, looking around corners as she glided through the air, making sure to watch out for where she was going at the same time. There was no use in calling for them, because she knew that they were probably taped up like Leo had been. But that only made her more determined to find them.

She searched, and she searched. But suddenly she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She dived, and she glided over to the top of a nearby building and landed as silently as she could. Then she retracted the flaps and the webbing went back into her flying suit. After making sure everything was secure, she crept to the edge of the building and peeked over the side.

They were two men in solid black ninja suits with swords strapped to their backs. They were walking stiffly like robots, and she knew exactly that they were robot Foot soldiers. The robots looked around, as if they felt like they were being watched, and she took cover before she could be spotted. When they continued walking, she followed them until they came to a large building that looked to be an old abandoned warehouse. When they went inside, she jumped down and jogged to the door where they went in. She put her back against the wall, and looked at the doorknob. She put her hand on it and gave it a small and slow twist, but found that it was locked. She huffed, and reached into her belt and pulled out a little mechanism. Donnie had built it, and said that he had not perfected it yet. But he said that it was a key that was supposed to adjust to any lock you used it on. So she inserted it, and gave it a moment to adjust to the lock. But then a noise got her attention, and she looked toward the alley. The two Kraang robots looked at each other, and then at her. She froze for a moment, but then frowned.

Inside the room, a few robots walked around in pairs, patrolling the place and chatting in odd ways. In a large electric cage sat Donnie, taped up with an annoyed look on his face. He had some bruised, but other than that, he was fine. He had no clue what was going on, or how he even got here. All he remembered was when he and his brothers were scouting the rooftops, and then they stopped to take a break and then something just hit him on the back of the head. Then he woke up here, roped, taped, and silenced. His Bo was leaned up against the wall nearby, but he had no way of reaching it in his situation. He'd heard his T-phone buzz earlier, but he had no way of getting it out of his belt, not that he would have had a way of talking through it anyway.

The door opened again, and Kraang droid walked in slowly before the door closed behind him. Donnie had hoped that maybe by some miracle that it was one of his brothers, but he sighed, dropping his head onto the floor of the cage. But… something wasn't right… Of course he was in a cage locked up and tied up and all and he was trapped with all of the droids and with no way of contacting his brothers or getting his Bo back, but… He felt like something was about to happen. He could feel it in his gut.

Right as he looked back up, the robot fell forward, revealing a smaller figure. His eyes widened, and he had to blink a few times to see if he was actually looking at who he thought he was looking at. _Abigale?_

All of the robots stopped what they were doing and looked at the lizard mutant. She stared right back and for a moment, there was a moment of silence before she pulled out what looked to be a pair of Tonfa. She twirled them in her hands for a second, and then glared at the robots.

"You picked the wrong day to do this." she said, walking forward. The robot all suddenly began to fire at her, and she darted back and forth to avoid the bright purple shots racing by her head. She jumped into the air, and landed with her feet on one of the droid's shoulders. She then tightened her grip on the robot's head with her feet and spun, seemingly unscrewing the head right off the body and tossing it in the air before kicking it towards the control panel. It hit its mark, and the electric cage around Donnie faded off. A few robots scrambled to get it back working while a few raced toward her. The words of Karai echoed through her mind, about her having to fight the soldiers first, but she went against her words and she then flipped out two ninja stars and flung them towards Donnie. He yelped behind the tape on his mouth and closed his eyes. He then dared to peek and looked down at himself. One of the stars had sliced right through the rope, and he could move his arms gain. He ripped the tape off of his mouth, took the rest of the rope off, and jumped to his feet before rushing for his Bo. He grabbed it up, spinning it a few times to get situated before grinning at Abigale.

"Nice shot!" he shouted, appalled by this new girl he was seeing. He'd never seen such skill from Abby, and he was stunned that she looked so much like an actual ninja now.

She gave him a thumbs up, and then swung one of the Tonfa and took one of the robot's arms off, slinging it across the room onto the floor. Donnie then joined in on the fight, taking out robot after robot by her side, his Bo spinning in an illusion of a way and taking off robot after robot's heads, tearing them apart and forcing the little brain-looking creatures known as the Kraang crawl out of their protective casings and run for their lives. She ripped one of the robot's legs off, but the robot grabbed her arm and she slung it into another, making a clanging that echoed through the room.

"Donnie!" she suddenly shouted, tackling him to the ground before a bright neon purple laser could hit him in the back of the head.

"Ugh… Thanks." He groaned from the shock but sighed in relief, and then they got back up and continued the fight.

A few minutes later, all of the robots were down. Both the ninjas were panting, but Abby told Donnie about what was going on, and what she had to do to find the others and Leo. She told him how she had been searching from the skies. He nodded as she spoke, and when she finished he frowned. Then he ran to the computer and pressed a few keys, his eyes gluing to the screen as odd symbols of the Kraang language came up and he clicked different files.

"If I can connect to the Kraang's communication systems, I might be able to access the locations of where they have taken the others. But from the looks of it, they have had near to no contact with each other, so it may prove to be difficult to track down and fine the pinpoints of their locations."

"How long could it take until you find out?" she asked as she looked over his shoulder.

He frowned in thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "About thirty minutes or so at the most, it could take a while."

"We don't have much time, Donnie." Abby said in a stern tone. He sighed, and nodded.

"I know, but the Kraang's technology is so much more advanced and complicated… We'll just have to… uh… cross our fingers." He then noticed the worry in her eyes. The look was much different that the feisty and aggressive look from earlier when she had fought the robots, and he knew that she was deeply worried about his brothers' safety. So he smiled softly and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. We'll find them."

Abby sighed, but returned the small smile and nodded slowly.

"Besides, they left a flash drive in the computer, so it might make it much easier to track them down!" Donnie grinned, and she sighed in relief that they were one step closer. "I'll catch up with you when I have an idea of where they are to narrow down the search." Then remembering that the clock was ticking and they had to hurry, Abby snatched up the ninja stars and they ran out of the warehouse. She climbed to the top of a nearby apartment, and she hooked the body wings up.

"You have your T-phone?" she shouted at Donnie while he lifted the lid to the sewers. He had told her that he would retrieve the Shellraiser and then he'd track down his brothers' T-phones' signals so that they could have a better idea of where each of their locations were. He looked up at her and nodded and she gave Donnie one last nod before he disappeared down into the sewers through the hole. She took a deep breath, and jumped off the building as was off in the air again. Alright, that was one turtle down. Two more to go before she could get to Leo. And she couldn't have found a more useful turtle, no offense to the others. Having Donnie would increase her chances of finding the others quite a bit with his technology and gadgets.

She forced some air under her by flying over a vent of a building, making her glide higher and over the buildings again. She began to search the alleys again, some of them the same ones she'd searched, some of them ones she'd never knew existed. She stayed closer to the shadows, but still stayed in the open air where she wouldn't be seen by humans. She saw a few walking the streets, but none of them thought to look up at the flying lizard in the sky.

"_Abigale? Can you hear me well?" _a voice rang in her ear after about five minutes.

She replied. "Yeah, loud and clear, Donnie."

The device that was in her ear was connected to her T-phone so that she could talk to him without having to reach for her phone while she flew. It was quite useful, since now he can give her updates and details of where the others were.

"_I have to admit, this is one of the best inventions I've come up with! I can't believe it's working so well so far, actually. Did you know that it took me three weeks to perfect the functioning of these? I mean, these are very complex devices that were for once never broken during their creation!_"

She smiled lightly at his rambling, and continued to scan the surroundings. "Donnie, focus. Are you making headway on those coordinates?" She knew that if she could just fine one of the droids, she'd find the rest. But it would make it so much easier if Donnie could hurry up with the coordinates to the other turtles' locations.

"_After I had to talk to Splinter and got to working on this, this actually proved to be a bit easier than I had previously thought. I have already got a reading on Raph's T-phone, and he's not that far from your reading. He's about… let say… one hundred meters a little bit back behind you. I'm still working on the others._"

"Don't worry, Donnie. You'll figure it out." Abigale said reassuringly, smiling through the communicator. After that there was a short silence.

"_Oh and… Abby?" _

"Yeah?" she said, already veering to her left and turning around towards the way Donnie told her where Raph was.

"_Be careful, will ya?_" his voice seemed quiet, soft, and she could hear the sincerity and worry in it. She smiled softly and nodded.

"I will. Just do your job, Donnie." She then hung up the line and concentrated on the mission. She knew Donnie was worried about her, and she was actually worried about herself as well. But she knew that if Donnie was free, there was there was always hope that the others would get out of this alive even if she failed. She dived down into an open but silent and dark area. Donnie didn't tell her exactly where Raph was, for he didn't have an exact pinpoint location on him. But by the look of this area, hidden away from the streets, no street lights, no people walking around, she guessed that this was the place especially since she guessed that this was around a hundred meters behind where she was minute ago.

She walked around for a few minutes, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness and tuning up her hearing to try to pick out any sounds that were out of the normal. She kept her footsteps silent and her movements smooth to keep from tripping over something or bumping into objects.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted something shining in what little light there was. The moon showing itself once made the object look almost white. Curious, she turned toward it and walked forward. Her nerves were raging, on alert for anything that could happen. She put her hands on the Tonfa on her hip, gripping it in her fist so she could snap it out at any second when needed. When she came closer to the object on the ground, she saw that it was a Sai, Raph's Sai. It was a single one though, so she guessed that they had the matching one of the pair with them.

She picked the Sai up and slipped it on her belt securely, and then she turned around and looked around. Raph would never leave a Sai behind, so she knew that he had to be close. She took out her Tonfa and twirled them in her hands, letting them hand at her sides as she walked along. But something suddenly felt out of place. She looked around, narrowing her eyes. The area was… too open and large for any normal place to hide anybody. But then she saw a bunch of trash cans that had been knocked over, and she guessed that Raph might have put up a fight as they took him.

A tapping caught her attention and she paused, listening for it after it stopped. She stood in that spot for a minute listening as hard as she could and closing her eyes. Then she opened them, and she spun around in a smooth motion and swung the Tonfa in her left hand and smacked the robot right across the side of the face, making him spin around before he caught his balance. She then noticed and pressed a button on the side of one of the Tonfa. Having never seen it before and curious of what it did. A blade popped out of the other end, and she smiled in satisfaction before she shoved the knife up the robot's head under the chin. The robot died and fell to its knees with a buzzing sound and sparks spraying from its head.

She then turned around, and saw about seven more of the same robots behind her with guns. She let her expression fall blank, and got into a fighting stance.

"Hey, I'm looking for a turtle, about yay high, buff, has a red mask, bad temper… You've probably seen him haven't you?" she said smoothly, lifting her hand to show the height and smiling expectantly as the robots turned to look at each other in confusion.

Seeing when they let their guard down she lunged forward, grabbing and throwing one of the exploding eggs down and disappearing in the smoke. The robots all took a step back in shock, and they looked around making little electronic sounds. Before they knew it, one of them had been taken down from behind. They all turned around, only to find that the one that had been attacked was lying on the concrete with his head taken completely off. They held up their guns, looking around frantically for the ninja. But again another one went down behind them. This time its arms were ripped off and it was wriggling around in a panic on the ground.

"Spread out and search for the one that is known as the lizard mutant that is which she is known as." one of the robots spoke in its mechanical voice.

From above, she glared at them as they began their search for her. She then looked around with her eyes now slide white like the band with being in her fighting mode. She let her eyes fall on a large dumpster that a few robots were standing by. They seemed to be dead set on staying near it, so it was clear to her that that was where Raphael was. But she then smiled, and took out her T-phone and dialed his number. After a few seconds, there was a loud ringtone that sounded like an electric guitar solo coming from that dumpster.

She shook her head with a sigh. "Typical…" Then she jumped out from the apartment ladder, and landed in front of the robots to get their attention. All of their purple eyes locked on her, and she frowned back.

"Bring it." she growled, gripping the Tonfa pair in her hands. They charged forward, firing at her and some others taking out katanas and nunchaku. She took in a deep breath and then ran forward herself, dodging attacks and knocking aliens out of their robotic casings and sending them running. One of the robots shot at her, and she grabbed its arm that held the gun and pulled it over her shoulder, shooting at two other robots before ripping the arm off and kicked the robot away. Then she grabbed another robot's leg and slung it at another one, throwing them to the ground.

"The mutant lizard that we are fighting at which we are doing right now is much stronger than Kraang predicted which was that she was not as strong as we predicted." The robot was shut up when the Sai that she had tucked in her belt was thrown into it head. God she hated the way they talked. The other robot it was talking to was the last one left, and she wiped some sweat off of her forehead. Then she grabbed the gun that was near her feet, and she fired it off. The robot went down with a giant hole in its chest.

She panted, and then walked over to the dumpster. She saw that there was a lock, but she lifted the gun back up and let it charge, and then she shot the lock so that it broke and exploded into shattered pieces. She then threw open the lid to the garbage container and looked inside. Raph jerked, his eyes growing wide for a moment, but then he relaxed as she reached and heaved with all of her might and dropped him on the ground. She then cut the rope around his arms and feet and ripped the tape off of his mouth, making him shout out in shock when it was off.

"Abby?!" he gasped, moving his arms a little as he sat up.

She nodded. "Been a rough night, huh?"

He huffed and nodded. "God if I didn't know that Leo was crushing on you I'd kiss you right now! Okay that sounded a little weird… Never mind that. But yeah, fill me in. What's going on?"

Abigale paused as his words sunk in about Leo crushing on her. She felt her face heat up a little, but she shook the thought from her head, her seriousness returning. After some explaining, Raph became furious about the situation. He told her that he'd help her search of course, and he retrieved his Stealth Bike from the Shellraiser, and was patrolling the streets and alleys close up with the black asphalt cover camouflaging it with the road. They kept in touch with the ear pieces that Donatello had created, since she had a few extra for when she found the boys.

She was mainly glad that she had an extra teammate to help her with fighting the robots. She was still quite tired from the last two fights, and she was still regaining her strength. Raph was a strong guy, and he could take out a bunch of those guys if she needed to take a break for a moment. But he was a reliable partner until they could get the rest of the team together.

"Alright, guys." Abby said as she glided through the air. "We need to focus on finding Mikey."

"_But what about Leo?_" Raph said abruptly, and she swore she could've seen him frown on the other side of the line.

"_Yeah, if we got him back, then he'd know what to do._" Donnie added a little timidly.

Abigale sighed. She did want to save Leo, very badly. But she knew that they couldn't at that time. They would need to find Mikey first, or this trial of Karai's would be over and Mikey would be possibly killed or even Leo if she found that they were going to go after their leader first.

"Leo… would want us to find Mikey first." she said quietly. "We can't depend on him all of the time, and he'd want us to save Mikey before him."

The two turtles fell silent at her words. They knew that she was right, and that Leo would have thought exactly that. He was their leader after all, his teammates came first… but still, it made them fidgety without their leader to direct them to what to do.

So the search went on, and for about fifteen minutes, they didn't find anything. Donnie had a hard time finding Mikey's location, and he was starting to panic and ramble on line. By the sound of the footsteps in the background, he was pacing back and forth in the lab and hyperventilating. Abigale heard Raph growled quietly in agitation at his brother's panic attack, and she knew that for long Raph would lose his temper. So she spoke through the line carefully but let the snap in her voice show.

"Donnie! Calm down. Mikey and Leo are counting on you. Take a deep breath." She heard him sigh on the other line. She listened as he sat down in the seat, the creaking of his chair ending when he began to breathe deeply and calm himself.

"_Donnie calm down, bro. Just… do what you can… It'll be alright…_" Raph's voice sounded forced and hesitant, like he wasn't used to talking to his brothers that way. But Abby knew that he meant well, and she knew that he was worried about his brothers. He may have had a hard shell, but he had a soft heart hidden within it. She smiled and looked down at him from the sky. It was difficult to see it, but she could see the shadow of the vehicle on the ground, and she could see that he was driving a tad slower than he was a second ago, and she sped up to scout up ahead. Then her eyes locked onto a target.

"Raph, up ahead to your right! Two Kraang robots walking on a rooftop. Do not engage, follow silently." She watched as the Stealth Bike slowed and pulled into an alley beside the building that she was talking about. She took a sharp dive and landed on a building across the street. But since this was the last turtle before Leo she decided that, since Karai would hint her of where Leo was after this rescue, she could take off the flying gear. She unstrapped herself, taking the hooks off of her wrists, ankles, and hips. She then continued following the robots. She caught a glimpse of Raph across the street on the same building as the robots. He had his back against an advertisement sign, looking around the corner. He looked at her, and she nodded and he followed close behind them.

She jumped back onto the street and ran across the empty street and halted when she came to a pile of boxes. Her eyes widened when she saw a human man curled up inside one of the large boxes like it was his home. She'd seen him before, an older homeless man that slept wherever. She let out a sigh, and then jumped over the boxes as quietly as she could as to not disturb the sleeping old man. She climbed up the windows and pulled herself up onto the top. She then went to Raph's side and pressed herself against the wall.

"Alright, we follow them to where they're keeping Mikey. Any questions to that?" she asked, arching one side of her white mask at him.

He cracked his knuckles. "Do I get to kick robot butt after?"

"All the robot butt ya want. Now let's go!" She peeked out from behind the post, and then when she saw the robots go into a doorway on the top of the roof, she ran out from behind the wall and towards a glass area of the rooftop where you could look at the stars from inside if it was night. Raph ran up behind her and they both crouched to look through the glass. Inside they could see an electric cage with Mikey tied up inside it. It was a much similar sight to the one where Abby had broken Donnie out. There were a few Kraang droids near the computer, a few near Mikey's cage, and a couple walking around on their own or in pairs.

Mikey sighed as he sat with his back against the wall. He was bored as heck, and what's worse, he had a terrible itch in his shell that he couldn't scratch. He'd been sitting there for a long time, and he had no clue how he ended up here. He remembered blacking out, but he couldn't recall ever coming to this place. When he had woken up and saw that these guys were the Kraang and that his brothers were nowhere to be found, he became confused and actually a little scared. His brothers were always nearby, even if they had been captured… He hoped that they were alright.

"You ready?" Abigale looked at Raph, who had a kind of an excited look on his face. He grinned and nodded. She smiled, and she used the blade in her Tonfa to cut a circle in the glass and carefully took the piece of glass out so that it wouldn't make any noise.

"Guys, wait!"

They both turned around and smiled at the figure that was running toward them. Donnie smiled in greeting and came to a stop beside Raph. Raph greeted him with a soft punch on the shoulder, and Donnie nodded at him. She smiled at Donnie and then took one of the exploding eggs from her belt and looked down. She'd ask Donnie about Leo's T-phone signal later. Right now, they had to get Mikey out of there. She held the egg above the hole, and dropped it.

Down below inside, it was all silent. But then a little white object fell from the roof, hit the ground, and an explosion of purple swirls filled the room. Mikey yelped behind the tape, closing his eyes and holding his breath in case it was some kind of toxic gas. But then he heard glass shattering and shots being fired. He saw purple lasers go everywhere, and the room still filled with the smoke, it was almost impossible to see anything. He heard shouts and the sounds of metal being torn and hitting the ground, robotic noises, and sounds of clashing. One of the lasers from the guns almost hit Mikey in the shoulder, but it missed and hit the wall just beside him. There was also a sound of what seemed to be like a smaller version of a helicopter blade, and he could see the smoke swirling as the sound erupted. There looked to be a lot of movement in the room, sounds of people yelling and weapons clashing. He saw sparks fly, and he wanted badly to be out of these ropes and cage. He then fell over onto his side, and he was struggling to try to sit back up.

But then the smoke cleared, and it revealed Raph holding one of the robot's heads on his Sai, a grin on the red-masked turtle's face as he looked at his younger brother. Donnie kicked up one of their heads and hit it with his Bo like a bat, sending it towards the computer and hitting it directly on the shutdown button. The cage shut off, and the brothers untied their youngest sibling and helped him up.

"Guys! Boy am I glad to see you!" Mikey cried out and hugged Raph, making the older turtle sigh and hug him back.

"Yeah, yeah, we missed ya too, little bro."

"Where's Leo?" Mikey asked, surprised that their older brother was nowhere to be seen.

Donnie smiled in happiness and pride. "It was a lot of work, but I found his T-phone signal and I know where he is being kept."

Raph and Mikey both whooped in a little celebration, but then Raph looked over at the figure hunched over by the computer, leaning against it with an arm propped up on the top. His smile faded into a look of concern and worry.

"Abby?" he called out, all the turtles running over to her. He looked down at the ground and saw what appeared to be red liquid next to her foot. His eyes grew wide and he knelt down beside her. She was keeping one hand against her side, blood dripping between her fingers and slipped down her body and dripped on the floor. Near her foot was a katana, one that belonged to the robots, with blood splattered on the sharp side. Her eyes were clenched shut, and her face twisted into a grimace.

"Oh my gosh, Abby… Are you alright?" Donnie said almost in a panic, not quite sure what to do at the moment.

"Abby?!" Mikey gasped. This was Abigale? But… but she's not a ninja! Was she? She was wearing a white mask over her eyes and a white belt wrapped around her waist, and he found it odd that she was able to fight. Usually she was laid back and never had part in a fight. She liked to watch mainly, but he'd never seen her do much more. But Donnie mentioned one time that she liked to train by herself, and that was the reason why nobody ever saw much from her sometimes.

Abigale opened her eyes a little, and revealed a tear slipping down her cheek. She growled, trying to stand up straighter but bending back over in pain. Donnie saw some cabinets not far from them and ran to them. He opened them and began searching for anything that could be used to wrap her wound. He was looking through the last one when he finally found a single role of wrap. He snatched it up and rushed back to the others. He instructed that Raph pinned her arms up so she wouldn't curl in on herself again, and Mikey kept her legs still. He then proceeded to put pressure on the wound before wrapping her whole waist so that her belt was under the wrap an off of her wound. He was then telling her that maybe she shouldn't go on, that it would be best if she remained in the lair until the brothers came back. But she replied with a shake of her head.

"But, Abby, you won't be able to do much in this condition! You would only get yourself killed!" Donnie was saying. They were sitting down on a sofa that was set in the building where Mikey had been held captive.

She shook her head again, more forceful this time and a frown on her face. The three turtles looked at each other, and then back at her.

"Why are you doing this, Abigale?" Raph asked, his gaze hard but yet soft in a way. He wanted to know why she wouldn't just let the boys take care of it. There were three ninja turtles free, and they could easily save Leo! So why was she letting herself get involved when they could take care of the business themselves?

"Because," she said quietly, looking at the ground. "I promised Splinter that I'd bring you all home… And I promised myself… that I wouldn't give up on my family…" Her voice grew soft, but had a touch of sternness in it.

"Us?... Your family?" Mikey said meekly, his eyes collecting a hint of shine. She nodded, and he hugged her. "I love you so much right now!"

She cringed, but smiled softly and wrapped her arms around his back. Then she smiled at the others. "Let's get Leo back… I'll talk to Karai. You guys will wait until I come back…"

"But… what if she tries to kill you?" Donnie asked, his expression worried and dreading.

She shook her head slowly. "She won't try to. Not just yet..."


	8. Chapter 8

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**New Foe, New Trial Part Three**

"Alright, Karai, tell me where he is."

For a moment, the human didn't recognize the voice, for it was much more confident and tired than when she had first heard it. She turned around, and smirked at the sight. The figure walked forward, limping slightly on her left. There was blood stains on the bandages that were now around her waist, and little drops of sweat dotted her forehead.

"Well, well, well, looks like you're still alive! Also, that was a neat little stunt you pulled off, jumping off the roof and then flying." Karai said, leaning against the wall. She was in the same spot that she had been left at, on top of the company building waiting patiently for the mutant girl to go through with the trial. Personally, she never expected the girl to live. On the first course she thought that she would be killed, and she would have to report to the Shredder about the news. But seeing her standing before her, if not a little beaten-looking, almost disappointed her.

"Karai, no more games! I'm through with them. Just tell me where Leo is." Abby snapped, making Karai flinch a little in surprise that she had such life still within her. That fire was still in her eyes, and she smiled in relief actually.

"Where are the other turtles?" Karai demanded. It wasn't right that since the other turtles were free that they weren't with her, especially with their brother's life at risk.

"They're at the lair. I made it perfectly clear that I had to do this alone."

"Alright, he's in a car shop some miles to the South. I'll lead you there." The human then began to make her way down the company building, Abigale close behind but falling back a little because of her injury.

They continued down the building, silent with Abigale not wanting to talk to Karai. She felt her heart race faster, her anger trying to boil up but she kept her nerve and followed without a word. She was glad that she would be able to see Leo again, and that she had the other boys to back her up. But every now and then she'd have sharp pains running up her abdomen and she'd have to slow down to absorb the shock of the pain. During these moments, she'd take the time to contact the others.

"How far away are you?" she whispered into her earpiece, making sure to be cautious about Karai.

"_We've got the Shellraiser up and running! We're on our way to Leo right now!_" Donnie said over the line.

She nodded. "Right, don't do anything until I give the signal."

"_Will do! I mean, won't do! Wait... We will do that, no… I mean-,_"

"_We'll wait for you there._" Raph said, and Abby smiled as she ran. But then she silenced the line when Karai looked back at her for a moment.

About ten minutes later, Karai had led the mutant girl through the city and now they were walking the streets. Nobody was outside, so Abby was able to walk freely without the worry of being seen. Karai attempted to get a name out of her every now and then, but the lizard never spoke. She never made eye contact, and she never gave the assassin a hint on her emotions. Karai had to admit, Abigale was a strong-willed mutant, not to mention gusty to go through all of this just to rescue some pathetic turtle. She was willing to risk her own life for someone else instead of running away with her own life. That was respectful of her, but Karai didn't care to respect enemies.

She saw an old car shop up ahead to the left, dark with no lights on. She smiled and walked toward the doorway. She then entered the building without a word, and Abigale was hesitant to follow. This was a small building, and she frowned at the human's back. She looked around behind her, half-expecting the Shellraiser to appear somewhere. But she shook her head and entered to doorway behind Karai.

The inside of the building was large despite looking much smaller from the outside. But she guessed that it was just because of all of the cars that were lined up along the wall. The lights all turned on, showing about ten Kraang robots stood up in a row in salute, Karai walking in front of them and grinning at Abigale smugly. Abigale looked to her right, and her heart skipped a beat. Leo hung from his feet with ropes around his arms and tape over his mouth, like the video on Karai's device had shown. But by now his eyes were closed, and he almost looked to be asleep. But he barely cracked his eyes open, and when he saw her, they widened slightly and he opened his mouth to say something, but it was lost in a sigh.

"Alright, Karai, what now?" Abigale asked, clenching her fists as she turned her attention back to the assassin.

"Oh nothing, all you have to do is win him again." Karai then looked her up and down, arching a brow as she smiled and motioned to the wound on her side. "Well… for you, it may be a little more than nothing."

Abigale took out her Tonfa, gripping them in her fingers and bending her knees slightly. She narrowed her eyes at the human. "Alright, bring it."

Karai huffed, and then she took out the katana from her case on her back. "But you won't be fighting the robots. You'll be fighting me!" With that Karai lunged forward, her katana raised and gripped in both hands.

Abigale's eyes widened a little, but she ran forward. Her eyes locked with Karai's, and she picked up her speed. Karai was about to swing at the mutant, but Abby suddenly hit her knees while she ran, bending backwards and sliding under the katana blade, missing it barely and then lunging to her feet and delivering a kick to the back of Karai's head.

The human stumbled forward, having not expected such speed from one who was as injured as her. But she cracked her neck and ran forward again, this time with her katana lowered slightly. Abby lifted her Tonfa, and when Karai took a swing the two weapons collided with each other. Karai swung again, and hit the Tonfa several times before Abby suddenly trapped the blade between the pair of Tonfa, twisting it and making Karai lose her grip slightly before she kicked the human in the gut, sending her staggering backwards and her katana hitting the floor.

"Now!" Abby yelled, and after that there was a short and odd silence within the building. Nobody moved, nobody spoke, but instead waited for what was about to happen. When nothing happened, Karai opened her mouth to mock the mutant, but before she could get a word out the door came crashing down. Abby took another exploding egg from her pocket, and threw it to the ground. Karai yelled, covering her eyes and backing away as she got a full dose of the smoke in her eyes.

Raph, Mikey, and Donnie then stormed in, attacking any robot that was in reach. The smoke created confusion between the enemy, and they panicked to gain control over the situation but having no such luck. Donnie twirled his Bo, creating even more confusion with the smoke ad Raph came from behind and dragged the robots into the darkness of the purple smoke. Mikey attacked full force, making loud noises to get their attention before attacking. The robots fired their guns, swung with their swords, tried doing anything to fight back, but to no avail. Karai wiped her eyes, and then glared at Abigale, a deathly look on her face as her now reddening eyes drilled holes in the mutant. Abby returned to gaze, and she ran forward. Dazed and slightly disoriented, Karai picked up her katana and ran at her female opponent. Wood clashed with metal, and the girls swung at each other. Abby swung with one of the Tonfa and caught the other girl on the side of the cheek, and Karai gave a swing of her katana and slashed Abby's shoulder.

The sounds of metal clashing together, robots hitting the ground, fighters yelling, mechanical noises from the robots, and sparks flying through the smoke created confusing affects, and all of it was getting to Karai's head. She decided that outside was the best place to take this fight, so she turned away and ran out the window. Abby growled and ran after her.

"Abigale!" Mikey yelled before becoming distracted by a robot. The others wanted to try to stop her, but with their hands being full, they couldn't do a thing to stop her.

Abby ignored her friends' calls as she followed the assassin up the roof, climbing up the windows and watching as the opponent disappeared over the top. She jumped up, looking for Karai for a moment, but finding that she had suddenly disappeared. The clouds earlier hadn't looked bad before, but now they were dark grey and huge, and now it was just starting to become a downpour, making it very dark and hazy outside.

"Abigale, huh? Doesn't sound like a warrior's name." a voice spoke calmly through the rain, but Abby couldn't pick out which way it was coming from.

"Names don't matter." Abigale said haughtily, narrowing her eyes and gripping her Tonfa tighter in her fists.

"I suppose you're right." Karai leaned against the pipe chimney, looking down at the mutant girl as she searched for her. She had heard the turtle call out the girl's name, and when she heard it, she was partially stunned. To her Abigale seemed like a child's name, one given to a girl that was like a princess. It was a stupid name. She had to catch her breath, clear her mind before she could fight any more. That smoke burned her now reddened eyes, and it was a relief to have the rain wash it away. But then she looked down at the wound on Abby's side. She'd almost forgotten about that ever being there, but when she saw it something clicked in her mind, and a wicked smile spread over her face.

Abby tried to peer through the darkness, but she could see anything through the rain. The sound of the rain made Karai's voice slightly faded sounding, and it was coming down so hard that it looked almost foggy around her with the water splattering off the rooftop. She looked around, but she couldn't' see anything farther than ten feet away from her. But she suddenly cried out sharply when a force hit her on her wound like a punch, resulting in her hitting her knees and clutching her abdomen. Hot tears stung her eyes, and she coughed hard.

Karai stood over her, looking down at the pathetic sight before. Growing tired of hearing her coughing, she then brought her foot back and kicked the girl in the side where her wound was. The contact of Kara's foot against Abby's side sent her tumbling and rolling across the rooftop. The pain was sharp and pounding, like a bruise but ten times worse and mixed with the feeling of a cut having alcohol put on it. She couldn't breathe, she couldn't get any air. But she forced the air to go down, and she put her hand on the bandages and looked at her fingers. The wound had begun bleeding again, and the blood stained her fingers before being washed away by the rain.

"You are pathetic. Smart, but pathetic. I don't know why my father wants you, or why he even cares. You would be easy prey for him, he would kill you easily, like he will kill the turtles. They will be out of the way, and the Kraang and Foot Clan will rule the city, evolving and growing better. I will be right beside my father, and he will be powerful over the city. And I will be just like him."

She heard Karai's words echo in her mind. Her head throbbed, and her vision blurred. She tried shaking her head to clear it, her hair falling in her face and the tail of her mask drooping over her shoulder.

"You may be strong-willed, but that won't get you anywhere if you're dead now, will it?" Karai continued.

Abby closed her eyes, taking in deep and shaky breaths. Her mind was spinning, but as she was trying to clear her thoughts, a voice echoed in her mind. It was soft and calm, full of slightly worry, but all the same stern.

"_I only want you to do two things for me, Abigale…_"

She opened her eyes, her blue orbs quivering slightly as she heard the memory flash in her mind. She recognized the voice instantly as it echoed softly and pleadingly. Splinter…? Her hand clenched her wound tighter as the voice continued on.

"_Please bring my boys home, and all of you come home safely._"

"Splinter…" she mumbled, hanging her head for a moment and coughing. The rain seemed to stop for a moment, or if it didn't she didn't feel it. The flashback showed his face, gazing into her eyes with that soft and concerned look.

"What?" Karai said suddenly, bringing Abby from her thoughts. Abigale lifted her head. She pictured Leo again, him in his beaten and exhausted state. She imagined Splinter's look if she didn't get the boys back home safely, and the mere thought of it sent her blood racing. Her heart jumped in her chest, like she had been electrocuted and was brought back from the dead. Her eyes snapped open, and her lip curved downward, and she took in a deep breath.

She pushed herself up. "You… you… You are… not the Shredder."

Karai was taken aback by the sudden exclamation, and she glared at the mutant female as she got to her feet, staggering a little. But she stood up straight, a grimace on her face when the pain shot through her body like lightening, but her eyes locking with Karai's as she focused her full attention on her.

"This fight… is between you and me… Nobody else, Karai…" she panted, gritting her teeth to send the pain away. It seemed to work, and the stinging started to fade away. "This doesn't involve the Shredder… or he would be here himself instead of letting his own daughter do the dirty work for him! Some father he is."

Karai's eyes widened, and then narrowed. "Shut up!"

"You know that I'm right, don't you? You know that a real father wouldn't do that to his daughter. Not if he loved her enough." Abigale went on, taking a step forward and grabbing up her Tonfa. She gripped each in each hand, getting into a battle stance.

"I… You…I… Y-You be quiet! I'll kill you!" Karai couldn't come up with a better comeback, so she decided that this was the time to attack. She ran forward, her katana raised high above her head to swing. But Abby furrowed her gaze, and right when Karai was in front of her, she fell backwards, hitting the ground on her back and using her feet to kick Karai in the gut and throw her over her off the edge of the building.

Abby flipped over and looked over the edge, and she gasped when a blade landed right in front of her face. She was face to face with the human teenager, and she jumped to her feet and backed up. Karai had a furious look in her eyes, and Abby knew that she had hit a nerve with her words. She blocked everything else out of her mind, and focused only on this fight. Karai crawled back onto the rooftop, and then charged at the mutant. She began to swing the katana like a madman, Abby blocking the blows with her Tonfa. She backed up every time Karai made a blow, and she then took the katana between the Tonfa, twisted it out of Karai's grip, and then punched the girl above her eye on the brow. Karai threw a punch back, but blinded by the anger and rain, she missed Abigale's face and went over her shoulder. Abby grabbed her wrist, twisted around, and flipped her over her. Karai hit the surface of the roof hard, arching her back at the impact. She got back up, and Abby was back to fighting her again.

She punched the girl in the lip, did an uppercut and her fist made contact with Karai's chin and making her jaw clench shut. She kicked Karai in the chest, spun around and her tail whipped the assassin across the abdomen, sending her stumbling backwards in a daze. The assassin picked up her katana, though, and held it out shakily. She couldn't believe it. How was this pathetic excuse for a ninja beating her?! How could this happen?! She insulted her father, insulted the Shredder! Her blood grew hot in her body, and she screamed out as she ran forward. But Abigale stepped sideways, grabbed the katana from Karai's grip, and flipped her over.

Karai blinked in a horrid daze, lightening flashed in the sky and thunder cracked and made the rooftop vibrate slightly. She opened her eyes and looked at the tip of the blade that was hovering in front of her nose. She looked at the mutant lizard that stood over her, a stern look in her eyes.

"I don't know why you want to continue this, and honestly, I don't want to. I'll give you a choice. You can stop right now, and we'll end this." Abby then threw the katana on the ground, stepping away from Karai and turning away.

Karai wiped her mouth, and saw blood on the top of her hand. She gritted her teeth, and gripped the handle of the katana in her hand tightly, almost until her hand turned yellow from the pressure.

"No… This ends now… Now!" Karai then jumped up and ran at Abigale, already swinging the katana.

Abigale's eyes widened, and she ducked forward to avoid the blade. Then she turned around, gripped Karai's wrist in her hand, and flipped her off the building, yanking the katana out of her hands in the process. With a flash of lightening, Karai was gone. Abby stepped forward, looking over the edge. She saw the figure on the ground move barely, and watched at the teenage human assassin shakily pushed herself to her feet. Karai looked at the figure on the rooftop, and she took in trembling and raspy breaths. How was she going to explain to her father about this…? How…?

Abigale threw the katana on the ground again, and left the edge, walking back the ways she had climbed up to the building.

Inside, Raph was holding Leo's head up in his lap, Donnie examining him while Mikey watched with large and worried blue eyes. There was silence among the brothers, confusion and concern now that they have cut their brother down. Leo was too tired to speak, and he was too exhausted and sore to move. But he was alive, and would live and heal eventually. Suddenly the door opened, and the three brothers tensed up for another fight. But when they saw the small figure limp through the doorway, they all relaxed. But they were also shocked by her appearance.

Apparently, Abby hadn't been able to dodge all of those blows of Karai's katana. Scratches covered her body, a gash under her right eye, and bruises starting to form in few places on her body. Her bandages had become loose, and hung at her side, blood staining them as they struggled to cling to the body they had been wrapped around. She looked like a wreck, and although she hadn't noticed it before, she guessed that she had pulled a muscle in her leg while fighting, because she couldn't put any weight on it.

But she wasn't concerned about her own health at that moment.

"How is he…?" she said quietly, limping over to them with the help of Mikey putting an arm at her waist. She kneeled down beside them, sitting on her knees.

Donnie sighed and shook his head. "He's fine… but he's going to be resting and recovering until his injuries heal up or at least until he gains some strength… But by the looks of it, it's gonna be a while before he can recover some of his strength..."

Abby looked down at Leo's face. His eye swollen shut slightly, he didn't look the same… he didn't look like the proud and strong leader he was. The Foot Clan must have beaten him until he couldn't fight back, so they could tie him up. They had… to break his will to fight by making him immobile, basically trying to break every bone in his body. She was just glad that he was alive.

About two hours, they had gotten their leader back to the lair. They were now just walking into the living room, placing him on the couch and making sure he wouldn't fall. Splinter heard the noise from his room while meditating, and when he came into the living room, he couldn't believe the sight. He'd seen his sons bruised and scratched up, but Leo was much worse than that. His other three sons were a little bruised, but that was basically it. But Leonardo… the sight was heartbreaking knowing that a routine patrol could turn into something like this…

"I am glad all of my sons are home." he said quietly with his voice full of relief before he looked at Abigale. She smiled back at him tiredly.

"I told you that I'd bring them back…" she said softly, pushing a piece of hair out of her face. She then looked at Leo, and sighed. "Let's get him to his room…"

The boys picked their leader up and did as told. They sat him on his bed in his room carefully, and then left. While Splinter and his sons spoke quietly in the dojo, Abigale went and got a rag, a bowl of cool water, and a medical kit that Donnie had in his lab. She took them to Leonardo's room and closed the door softly. She looked around, and for the first time got a good look at his room. There were _Space Heroes_ posters hanging on the walls, a shelf full of _Space Heroes _comic books and action figures, and different kinds of martial arts books as well. There was a chair sitting at a desk in the corner of the room where there were pencils and journals, so she placed the bowl of water and rag on the bedside table near the bed where Leo laid, grabbed the chair, and placed it beside the bed. She untied the mask on her head, and sat it on the table top. After that, she carefully pulled Leo's mask off of his eyes, and folded it and placed it beside hers on the table. Then she dipped the rag in the water, soaked it, and then she began to wipe it gently and carefully on the cuts on his forehead.

A few minutes later, she had cleaned up most of scratches on his face except for a deep gash above his eye. But just as she was about to get to it, a moan echoed from him, and he rolled his head. His eyes opened slightly, blinking furiously as he let the soft light pour it. The surroundings… they were so familiar… They were comforting and soft… He took in a deep breath, breathing in the familiar scent of the lair, and his room. He opened his eyes, and he locked gazes with Abigale. What was she doing here? How did he get in his room? What happened to him? What was going on? He couldn't remember anything, his memory was a big hazy.

"Hngg… A-Abby?" he muttered, frowning as he tried to comprehend what had happened to him. He put a hand on his swollen eye and flinched.

She smiled softly at him. "Morning, Sleepyhead…"

He groaned and tried to sit up. But his body was so sore, so tense from all of the bruises. He grunted in surprise and pain, but he forced himself to sit up further. He propped himself up against the back of the bed.

"Ugh… What happened?" he asked, a little dazed but still alert.

She sighed, putting the rag in the bowl of water and rinsing it out, turning the water a little foggy red. "Karai… she and the Kraang… they attacked you and the others… you passed out and I had to go through… a trial to find you." She explained everything else while she pressed the cool wet rag over the gash above his eye. As much as it hurt he leaned into the gesture, listening to the story as she told it in such detail, real detail. He enjoyed listening to it, and he thought over it when she had finished.

"I remember now… Yeah, I was being chased by the Foot, and then when I tried fighting back they ganged up on me and my brothers weren't around… They overpowered me and beat me I think… But that's all I remember…" Then he looked at her face more closely, and his good eye widened.

"Abby, you've been hurt badly, too…!" he said, reaching to put a hand on her cheek but stopping himself half-way there, feeling his face heat up. "Aw… Abby, I'm so, so sorry that this had to happen to you… You shouldn't have tried to come for me…"

"Shh…" she said softly in a whisper, pressing the rag against his swollen eye. "It wasn't your fault. It was none of our faults. You're lucky to be alive."

"And so are you." Leo said sternly, frowning slightly.

She shook her head. "It… was nothing, Leo. The most important thing is that you're okay, and that we are all alive."

He cringed when she put some pressure on his eye, and she paused for a moment before continuing to clean his face. She then dipped the rag in the water, letting her mind wander to what Raphael had said earlier, something about if he didn't know that Leo had crush on her that he'd kiss her. She smiled when she remembered Raph's face as he said it, and then she giggled at what he said about Leo crushing on her.

"What?" Leo asked, noticing that shine in her eyes that she always got when she was thinking happy thoughts.

She dabbed the wet rag on his cheek, wiping away dried blood. "Just… something that Raph said when I rescued him."

"What did he say?"

She gave him a happy smile, and then she grinned. "Oh… something about that if he didn't know that you were crushing on me that he could kiss me."

Leo let that sink in for a moment, and then his face turned bright red and his blue eyes grew wide in realization. He looked away, clasping his hands together and tapping his fingers together. He was fidgety, and she noticed his sudden mood change and smiled, giggling at his behavior.

"Ah…" he laughed nervously, not looking her in the eye exactly. "Yeah… about that…"

"Mhm?" she urged with a meek smile, rubbing the dried blood off of his cheek.

He huffed, looking down at his hands. Oh boy… Leave it to Raph to expose a great secret… or if he could call it a secret… Either way, he'd never told her upfront that he liked her, or loved her at that, and this wasn't his sort of thing. He was embarrassed, and he had no idea how to tell her to her face.

"You see… I… um… uh…. I want to say… Ugh… um…" he fumbled with his words, rubbing the back of his neck.

She paused from caressing his cheek with the rag, looking down at his fidgeting hands for a moment. She smiled and looked back up at him, her own cheeks dusted with light pink as she waited for him to speak properly. But he didn't look like he was going to be able to, so she sighed. She leaned forward slowly while he was looking away distractedly trying to find the right words to say. Then she pecked his cheek lightly with her lips, making everything he was hoping to say disappear in his mind and his eyes grow wide. He froze, blinking like a dumbfounded idiot who didn't understand English. He shifted his eyes to look at her, searching his mind once again to try to grasp what little sanity he had left. He must have grabbed a tiny piece, because his lip started to curl upwards slightly, and his eyes lit up like fireworks. He looked into her shining eyes, studied over her flushing pink and her hands in her lap, her hair still slightly damp from the rain, and her smooth scale-like skin shining.

He was hesitant at first, but he carefully leaned closer, and while she was looking down, he softly pecked her cheek with his lips just as she had done. She looked up at him, and she smiled with blushing cheeks. He returned the small smile, and they sat there for a moment in an awkward silence. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, surprising him when she hugged him close in a tight hug.

"You have no clue how scared I was when I saw what you looked like… I didn't know if I could finished the trial and save you… I was… I didn't…" she sighed, not able to speak as she sobbed into his shoulder.

He sat there while she cried, and then he sighed. He hugged her closer, and he slowed her to crawl into the bed and sit next to him, his arms wrapped around her and her face buried in his plastron. He rubbed her back comfortingly, shushing her and whispering reassuring words into her ear.

"It's alright… It's all over now, and there's nothing to worry about anymore."

"No," she said softly, taking in a deep breath. "I saw the look in her eyes. Karai isn't going to give up… She'll keep trying to capture you, and now me… She's going to try to kill us again."

He smiled gently at her. "But for now, we don't have to worry about it, Abby. Right now, like you said before, we are all alive and we are safe. And… I won't let anything happen to you."

She looked up at him, blinking her tearful eyes and showing him a confused expression. "But… you're hurt… What if… what if you die? What if..." She looked back down, not able to bear the thought of him dying.

"I won't die, Abby… Abby, look at me." When she looked up at him, he continued. "I don't care if I have to come back from the dead. I won't let anything happen to you, never will. I won't ever give up on life, unless you or my family aren't here with me to support me and give me a reason to live…"

His words made her smile up at him, and she hugged him closer. He hugged her to his chest, nuzzling his cheek against her head and smiling contently. She smiled with her eyes closed, curling up next to him. But then he parted from her, reached around her to grab the rag, and then sat in front of her. He then began to wipe the scratches on her face, cleaning the dried blood that stuck to her skin.

"Abby… I'm proud of you… You never gave up on us, just as I had never given up on you." he said in a small voice, wiping at the gash on her cheek gently.

She smiled and leaned against his hand. "Thanks…"

"Um… and Abby?" he said, looking down at his crossed legs as he rested the folded rag on his knee.

"Hm?" she replied, blinking slowly at him with her bright blue eyes as she looked into his unmasked ones.

"I… love you…" he muttered, his cheeks flaring up again.

She smiled at his reddening cheeks, and leaned forward and kissed his nose, making his eyes widened as he crossed his them to watch her before he stared at her. Then he smiled happily, and continued to wipe away the blood on her cheek.


	9. Chapter 9

**TMNT**

By

Dragon with a Shotgun

**This is a much longer chapter than the others… I decided not to break it into different chapters… **

**My Worst Fear**

"You know, it makes me wonder how you are so good at this when you haven't been trained by Splinter for more than four weeks." April commented, rolling her shoulder as she walked beside her mutant friend out of the dojo, the yells of the boys echoing through the lair from the dojo.

Abigale shrugged, smiling casually as she took a drink from her water bottle. "I've had some experience with fighting before I started this training. Remember what I said about karate?"

April nodded, now remembering the time that Abigale had told her about her karate years as a child. They stopped at the outside of the doorway of the dojo, resting their legs and stretching. "Oh yeah, I remember now. But still, it's amazing how you are so good with this fighting style."

In the dojo a minute ago, the two girls were doing some one-on-one in fighting in training under Splinter's supervision. April thought that she would win, knowing that she had had more experience in Splinter's training. But Abigale showed her out by making her tap out by pulling her right arm backwards while keeping a foot firm on her back in a submission hold. April wondered if she popped her shoulder out of place, but she knew better than that or she wouldn't be able to move it at the moment.

"It only takes practice and determination." the mutant smiled at her friend, putting the cap on her bottle.

April then grinned. "I still wish I could've seen that fight between you and Karai, though. I bet it was amazing!"

Abby shrugged, looking at her arm. She still had a small temporary white-pink scar from the katana's blade that was a line down her arm, and it served as a reminder of what that assassin could do. Since that fight, which was one or two weeks ago, she sometimes wondered what the outcome might have been if Karai hadn't have kept coming at her, trying to beat her. To tell the truth, Abby hadn't been sure if she could've won that fight without Splinter's words echoing through her mind. She thanked him mentally, smiling a little. But… she also couldn't help but feel sorry for Karai, and about how she had offended her about her father. That got her to thinking about her own father, her mother…

Yes, she had accepted that she… may not ever see them again. But at times, her heart ached. At night, she'd have dreams about her father and mother. She wondered how they would react to her now. Her boyfriend, yeah… She could understand him… But she felt a little angered at him about how he had reacted to her when she had tried to talk to him, or more like show him what she was now, that he gave her a change before he even saw her face. But her parents were a different story… What if she could go talk to them? Were they looking for her right now? Would they still love her even while she was still mutated? She couldn't help but try to imagine their reactions. Would they call her a freak? Would they… love her still?

Then a noise caught her attention and snapped her away from her thoughts. She looked through the doorway into the dojo and smiled at the sight. Donnie was trying to fight Raph, but they were having a conversation while they battled.

"Raph, last time you said that you nearly knocked my shell loose!" Donnie said in a louder voice while he held his Bo in a defensive manner, and his brother grinned as he held the Sais in his hands as if he was about to go on the offensive. They were circling each other slowly, trying to anticipate each other's movements to predict their attacks.

"Ah, well, I didn't! This time I'll just… shake you up in your shell!" Raph said, not exactly having a good enough of a snarky comment.

Donnie rolled his eyes and shook his head in an annoying fashion. "Real intimidating, Raph… Real intimidating."

"Of course it is!" Raph snorted, grinning at him. "'Cuz I'm the one who said it!"

With that, he charged at the taller sibling, twirling his Sais in his fingers and lunging at Donnie. The genius brother watched his movements and calculated them at the very last second before dodging the blow and sidestepping. He swung his Bo and hit Raph across the back of his shell, making the red-masked brother stagger forward before regaining his balance. Raph then spun around and swung one of his Sai at Donnie, but the taller turtle twirled his Bo and sent the Sai flying out of Raph's hand and into a wall out of the ring. The taller ninja grinned in joy that he actually did that to his brother, and he looked at the doorway. His eyes landed on April, and he smiled at her. She smiled back.

Raph growled, and lunged at his brother again. Donnie snapped his attention back to the fight. He tried back stepping to avoid the attack, and he was now a little nervous by the way Raph was looking at him. Raph swing at him with his fists, tried to kick him, tried to his him with the single Sai he had left. But Donnie kept back stepping and ducking and avoiding the swings and hits. But then Raph looked at his opponents feet, and then he grinned. Without giving a hint of what he was thinking, he hit the ground and tripped Donnie by swinging his foot out and hitting his ankle. The purple-wearing ninja yelped and was on his shell, fixing to attempt to get back to his feet but instead having Raph stomp on his plastron to keep him from moving.

"Yame! Donatello, you need to keep your head in the fight. Distractions can make the difference between life and death." Splinter said firmly, his brow furrowed at Raph laughed at Donnie. Donnie gave Raph an incredulous frown and Raph got off of him, allowing the down ninja to sit back up and pick his Bo up off the ground and put in back on his shell.

"Hai, Sensei…" he sighed, rubbing his head as he walked back to the sidelines. Mikey giggled at his brother and poked him on the side of his head, earning a whack on the head from Donnie's Bo.

Abby elbowed April gently, wearing a large grin. "You see that?"

April nodded. "Yeah, he lost the fight. What about it?"

The mutant shook her head. "You didn't see the look he gave you, did you?"

April frowned, looking at the turtles for a moment and trying to search her memory. To tell the truth, she was worried about her shoulder. She did smile at Donnie, but she didn't really think anything of the smile he gave her. Besides, the moment had been short-lived when Raph started going at him again. But… now that she thought of it, she did see the look that he gave her, and she smiled knowingly.

Abigale rolled her eyes and shook her head, closing her eyes with a small grin. "Never mind…"

"Heh… Hey, Leo's up."

Abby opened her eyes and looked toward the ring while she leaned against the doorway, water bottle in hand. Leo was indeed in the ring with Mikey in front of him, the younger turtle grinning like a little kid while the eldest wearing a concentrated frown. She couldn't help but smile. She knew that he was completely focused on his training session, and that nothing could distract him from it. Mikey spun his nunchucks at his sides and in front of him and Leo grabbed his katanas from his back and positioned himself in a defensive stance.

"Hajime!" Splinter barked, and the two turtles immediately began circling each other. Leo never said a word, but Mikey instantly started talking.

"Whatcha gonna do, big bro? Ya gonna do anything anytime soon?" he taunted.

Leo blinked slowly, not reacting much to his words. Abigale shook her head slowly and walked away from the dojo to leave the boys to their fighting and training. It was a few hours after lunch, it had to be at least around five, but she hadn't had anything to eat since breakfast, which she was reminded of by the growling of her stomach. She walked into the kitchen and thought for a moment. The most that the turtles would have were roman noodles or pizza, and at the moment she didn't feel like eating either. But she looked down at herself. She wasn't sure if she was gaining weight, or building more muscle from the daily workouts with the boys in the dojo, but lately she had become quite finicky about her weight. Normally her eight would show up on the weighing pad and say around 125 pounds, but lately it's been saying around 136. She had become a little troubled about the sudden weight gain and she blamed it on the pizza.

"I can go out and buy a burger or something if you'd like." April offered as they walked through the living room now.

Abigale shook her head. "Nah, I'm fine. I'll eat some pizza later."

"Don't you ever get tired of pizza?" the human asked.

"All the time." her mutant friend laughed, and April laughed with her. Abigale grew curious about Donnie's lab, because he had been working on improving those ear pieces for the T-phones. So the girls walked through the doorway and looked around at the room. It looked the same as it always had been, a few containers with different kinds of substances in them in different places, the computer, tools and a took case in a corner, and science books of different subjects on shelves on the walls, basically everything a mechanic and inventor needed or wanted in his lab. Just out of curiosity, Abigale picked up a book that was on his desk. It was a biology book that was turned to the _Fungus and Plant Life _chapter. The page showed a picture of mushrooms and spores, and a paragraph beside the pictures said something about symptoms and side effects from these spores if made contact with the skin.

"Wow, he does a lot of homework, huh?" the mutant lizard mused, turning a page just to look at the next subject but immediately regretting it when she saw a picture of a person's arm that resulted in an allergic reaction in touching some kind of mushroom. His arm had bubbles building up on the skin, some popped and some looking like they were about to. She gagged and turned the page back to where it had been previously.

April laughed at her and nodded. "Yeah, he does. It's crazy to think how smart he is, but he has all of these books. How does he ever get the time to read them?"

"Well think about it, if you lived down here in the sewers and couldn't talk to humans, you had three other brothers, one proud and giving orders, one having a bad temper, and one just plain obnoxious and acts like a little kid, had nothing to do but listen to them argue all the time, but had all of these books in your lab… What else could you do in your spare time when you are also not fighting crime and worrying about the next time there is an emergency or mission?"

April's eyes widened at Abigale's statement. She had a good point, but she didn't know that she actually knew everything slightly from Donnie's point of view. Then, she suddenly thought about something that she had been meaning to ask her friend for a long time, but never found it in her heart to attempt to. Now seemed like a better time than ever, especially since she fiddled with something in her pocket.

"Abby? Can I ask you something that is… probably a little personal to you?" April asked meekly, sitting down on the desk while Abby sat in the computer chair.

The mutant smiled at her brightly. "Yeah, of course. What's up?"

April looked at her hands clasped in her lap, and then at Abby. "Its… about your family… your mom and dad… Do you ever think about them?"

Taken aback by the question, Abby blinked and her focus on the book in front of her disappeared. She looked up at April, who had a meek expression on her face like she didn't know what to expect. Abigale looked down at the book, her eyes growing cloudy and her face turning into that of a blank expression. She never thought that April would ask such a question, because she had her own father to worry about. But… actually being questioned about the subject made her heart become sore, like a bruise whenever you touched it. That's what she actually considered it, her longing to see her parents once more a bruise on her heart.

"Yeah… I do. Every night…"

"Is… this them?" April held out a piece of paper that she pulled out of her pocket. Abigale's eyes widened a little, and she took the paper from April's hand carefully and inspected the image. It was a picture of a man with a woman holding a baby in a hospital room, reminding her slightly of the picture Splinter had of his wife and child. The wife sat in the hospital bed wearing a gown and a blanket draped over her legs, a small baby in her arms wrapped up in a pink blanket. The husband was tall, and bent down beside the bed with an arm wrapped around his wife and a hand touching the baby's little bitty hand. The newly parents both had large smiles on their faces, the wife looking a little bit sleepier than the overjoyed husband, but happy all the same. Abigale smiled at the picture, putting her finger on the baby in the mother's arms.

"Yeah… this is them… This was the day I was born." She looked at the picture with shining eyes for a minute, taking in the image. But then she looked at April questioningly. "Where did you get this?"

April looked down guiltily at her hands, smiling nervously as she twined her fingers. "I saw it in your room and picked it up… I forgot to put it back…"

Abigale looked back at the picture. April had never seen her look so depressed. It didn't look like she was the real Abigale there for a minute. She hoped that she hadn't offended the mutant by taking the picture out of her room. But Abby didn't look upset, if the most, she looked a little saddened.

"What happened to them?" April asked.

"Nothing."

"Then why don't you-," the human began, but the female mutant cut her off.

"April, look at me! I don't look like their daughter anymore. I'm not human anymore. How am I supposed to tell them, show them, what I am now? I can't… it would break their hearts if they saw what I look like today…"

April frowned. "But Abigale, if you keep telling yourself that, they you'll never know how they will react to you. You've already talked to your boyfriend and-,"

"I don't wanna talk about this anymore." Abigale sighed, standing up. April was going to try to stop her, to talk to her more. But as she hopped off the desk, she knocked a container of yellow substance of the shelf through the vibrations and it fell on Abigale's shoulder. It exploded all over the mutant like power, and Abby gasped and began coughing, covering her face to prevent any more from getting into her mouth and nose. But she coughed harder, and kneeled down on the floor trying to get air into her lungs.

"Oh my gosh, Abby! Are you alright?!" April cried as she knelt down beside her.

The boys were still training in the other room, Leo still fighting Mikey. Mikey was quick on his feet, making it slightly more difficult to make a hit on him. But he managed to trip him, throw him onto his shell, and pin him a time or two. But the younger turtle always seemed to find a way to get back to his feet. Honestly, Leo was going easy on him.

Suddenly a loud, shrill, and ear-piercing scream echoed through the lair right when Mikey ran at Leo, and when Leo looked over his shoulder towards the doorway of the dojo, Mikey kicked him and he landed on his shell. Splinter and the other turtles had heard it as well, and as soon as Mikey paid attention to what was going on as Leo sprung to his feet and ran out the doorway, all the others following close behind. They didn't see anyone in the living room or kitchen, so Donnie led them to his lab.

Abigale was sitting on the floor against the wall, April kneeling down in front of her trying to calm her down and holding her hand out. Abigale's eyes were wide as she stared at April in what looked like fear and confusion, her body trembling as her tail curled around her knees. Her pupils were constricted, and she was trying to back further into the wall if that was even possible. She was crying, tears streaming down her face like little rivers.

"April, what happened?!" Donnie shouted, running to her side. The quick movement startled the female mutant lizard, and she shrieked and she jumped away from them but ended up letting herself get cornered in the corner of the room next to a shelf. Her eyes darted back and forth to each person, terror obvious in her expression and her cries becoming louder.

"I don't know! I was talking to her, and then she was leaving the room and I knocked some container of stuff on her and she looked at me and then started freaking out." April had worry etched in every word and she looked at Abby with guilt. Donnie frowned and looked at the broken glass container on the floor. He stared at it for a moment, but then his eyes widened and he grabbed April's arm and jumped back.

"Stay away from that container!" he ordered, making sure that the others didn't get too close to it.

"What is it?" Raph asked with a frown.

Donnie fumbled with his words nervously for a second before he got his mind straight. "You remember those mushrooms we fought that whenever they sprayed those yellow spores in your face you'd see your worst fear?"

Leo's eyes widened and he grabbed his brother's shoulders and spun him around abruptly. "You kept some of that stuff?! What the shell were you thinking?!"

"I thought that maybe I could study it, and then work with it so that we could use it against the Kraang or Foot Clan…" he admitted, feeling the grip on his shoulders tighten.

Leo took a deep breath and let his hold on Donnie's shoulders loosen. Then he looked at Abigale, who was still curled up in the corner. She was looking everywhere, her bright blue eyes darting from whatever she was seeing in her mind.

"No… No! Leave me alone…! Please! Stop!" she screamed out, covering her face with her hands and crying.

"We need to try to calm her down. We need to help her get over her fear." Splinter said firmly, and Leo was already walking towards her, kneeling down in front of her and putting on his most sincere and comforting smile he could muster.

"Abby, it's me, Leo. Look at me, Abby." he said softly as to not surprise her.

Abigale kept her hands over her eyes. The voices screamed in her head, and she was trying to block them out but they kept coming back. Her heart raced and sweat ran down her forehead and arms. She didn't want to look at anybody, she didn't want to see their faces. When she had cleared her eyes of that yellow powder earlier and looked at April, she saw her mother's face. She couldn't believe it, and she had shaken her head and looked again. But this time her eyes were black, and she glared at Abby.

"You freak! You monster! How could you let this happen to yourself!" her mother shouted.

"I couldn't help it, Mom!" she had shouted back, but then her mother's face twisted into that of something frightening, the face of a robot, a Kraang robot. The robot grabbed her shoulders and shook her, and she fought with it and had backed up into the wall. The robot came closer and kneeled down in front of her, and reached a hand out. Then more figures came into the room, and she didn't even allow herself to look at them. But there was that certain voice that called to her. Leo… She dared to open her eyes, and relief washed over her immediately when she saw the familiar face of her turtle friend smiling softly back at her.

"Leo…?" she whimpered, a tear slipping down her cheek.

He nodded. "Yes, it's me, Abigale. Calm down… I won't hurt you…"

She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder. She felt so happy that he as there, that he was hugging her back, that he was speaking comforting words to her. But then she felt his grip loosen on her, and she pulled away to look at his face.

"Don't worry, I won't hurt you… You disgusting freak!" His voice suddenly changed, deeper and into another voice that she remembered but couldn't put her finger on where she had heard it.

"W-What?!" she gasped, pulling away fully and backing away from him.

"You heard me, you monster! Get away from me! Where's Abigale?!" Then, Leo's face turned into… Danny! Her old boyfriend wore a frightened look on his face, and now he stood there, holding a baseball bat and he swung it at her. She cried out in panic and ducked, and she backed up against the wall.

"Danny, it's me! I'm Abigale! Stop, please it's me!" she reached her hands out in a shoving fashion, making sure that the man didn't come any closer.

Leo looked at her with shocked eyes. Danny? She must have been seeing him as the boy with the baseball bat. He shook his head and tried again. "No, no! It's me, Leo! Abby!"

"No… Stay away from me… Don't come any closer… Please!" she cried, and before Leo could try to soothe her again she darted away from him and ran past him. She ran almost animal-like on all fours, like an actual lizard running for its life. She sprinted between the others, running out the door and skidding across the floor. Leo stood back up and ran to the doorway, but Splinter put a hand on his shoulder.

"We need to make sure she does not leave the lair. She is running from her fear, and she needs to be calmed down. She is now reacting on instinct." The mutant rat had a stern look in his eyes, and he watched as all the turtles nodded and ran out the door to block out the exits. Donnie stayed behind to clean up the mess before anybody else could make contact with the substance. April sat in the computer chair, her face in her hands.

"This is all my fault… If I hadn't had tried to get her to talk about her family this might have not happened…" she said quietly, her eyes tearing up.

Donnie sighed and shook his head. "Don't worry, we'll help her. We just gotta catch her and calm her down."

"SHE GOT OUT!" Raph shouted through the sewers, running into the lair and motioning towards the tunnels. Everybody came rushing through the living room, Splinter wearing a frown and the others having worried and fearful looks on their faces.

"You must find her." the mutant rat instructed. He had seen the look that Abigale had. It was heartbreaking and he wanted to do everything in his power to help her. But panic struck him when he heard that she had gotten out. Who knows what could happen to her while she's up there, blinded by fear. "If she is discovered, she will not be able to do anything about it. Remember, she is relying on her animal instinct. She is frightened, and will fight back if she has to. Be careful!"

As soon as he finished speaking the turtles all ran out of the lair and climbed to the surface. They saw where the life had been pushed open and immediately climbed out. The looked around, seeing a few trash cans knocked over and trash spread about. The night was full of car horns and people screaming, the stars shining in the sky and smoke filling the air.

Leo looked down at the ground, and something caught his eye. He bent down and picked up the paper, and saw that it was a picture of a family, a man with a woman holding a baby. His eyes grew soft. It must have fallen out of Abigale's pocket. She'd shown him this picture before, and he clutched it in his hand before looking at the others.

"Spread out, use your T-phones if you find her." he ordered, and this time, they didn't hesitate to obey. They all went in opposite directions.

Abigale was running on all fours, darting around a corner and running down an alley. Her eyes were constricted slightly into slits, but her face showed fright. She was helpless to fight off the images that played through her head. Her body acted against her, she didn't want to run. She wanted to stand and fight what was happening to her. But she didn't know how to fight it. All she felt was panic and fear.

"You freak! Where is Abigale?!" Danny yelled behind her. His eyes were jet black, shining in the darkness and the bat he held swinging as he chased her.

"I AM Abigale!" she screamed at him, tears falling from her eyes as she looked back at him. Then she skidded on her hands and jumped on top of a dumpster, climbing up the wall it was against until she was on the rooftop. She looked down at him, and he was trying to crawl on top of the dumpster. She hung her head, and then broke into a run on her hands and feet, her tail swaying to keep her balanced.

"Abigale!"

She turned her head upward to the source of the voice, her eyes disbelieving. "Daddy?"

The man looked at her as she skidded to a stop, and hope filled her eyes. His eyes were soft green, his brown hair shaggy and his chin covered in little whiskers as beginnings of a beard. He smiled down at her, and she cried out in joy. She ran up to him, and he ran to her. He knelt down, and hugged her. She hugged him back. His arms wrapped around her, she felt secure and safe. But her happiness ended and twisted into terror when she looked into his face. His eyes were all black, like there had been no white or color in them at all. He grinned darkly, his teeth jagged and sharp before he suddenly melted into black goo, covering her hands in the black oily-looking substance. She whimpered as she watched it reforming into another figure. This time it formed into a female's body, and as she watched the face form, her eyes watered. The woman's blonde hair was straight, falling at her shoulders as she scowled at her. Her eyes were jet black like Danny's had been.

"Mom, please! It's me, its Abigale!" Abby whispered helplessly, backing away on all fours.

"No…" the woman said quietly, and it didn't even sound like her voice. It was deep, raspy and dark as she turned her eyes to her. "My daughter is dead… She is not coming back."

"No! I'm not dead! Mommy, I'm right here!" Abigale screamed, and suddenly her mother melted. The black goo began to mutate, began to form something knew. It grew bigger and bigger until it towered over her, and faces formed into what looked like two heads on the top and one on the side. Her mother and father's faces twisted into the top heads, and the one on the side was Danny. Tentacle-like arms sprouted from it, one holding a baseball bat, and the others wriggling in the air and reaching out for her.

"Don't worry, baby, we won't hurt you." Her father's head said, his voice almost mechanical and they freaked Abby out.

"No… No!" Abby spun around and sprinted into a run. She sobbed, her wide eyes looking from place to place, hoping to spot a spot she could hide. But the creature behind her was gaining, and she was losing strength.

"Abby, it's me, Mikey! Don't run away, please!" the orange-masked turtle said, putting his nunchucks away and holding his hands out in a calming way. She skidded to a stop when she came to a wall, looking desperately for a way out. Her tail swayed against the ground, and she looked back at the turtle with puffy and reddening eyes.

"No… Leave me alone!" she shrieked, darting around his feet. He was surprised by her speed, but he turned and ran after her anyway.

She jumped from building to building, her lungs aching and her hands scratched up from the rooftop shingles. She had to get out of here, she had go get away from that monster behind her. She looked at it again, and now a huge mouth had formed in the middle of its body, and she screeched in fear. The mouth had large sharp white teeth, roaring at her and calling her name. The heads on the body shouted for her to come back, and their voices echoed as one in her head. She shook her head to get them out, and she stopped running to put her hands on the sides of her head and squeezing her temples.

"Leo, I found her!" Mikey shouted into his T-phone. He watched in horror as Abby hit her knees and started crying, screaming out random things and telling whatever she was seeing to leave her alone. He hated seeing her like this. It made him sad and helpless-feeling, like he couldn't do a thing to help her. A few minutes later, and she surprisingly stayed where she was, the others came up the building and were beside him.

"Gosh… how are we going to calm her down?" Mikey asked quietly, not taking his eyes off of her.

Donnie tapped his chin for a moment in thought. "Well, we could try to force a memory to come through and made her come over her fear…"

Leo looked at the picture he held in his hand. Then he looked back at her. She looked up from the ground, opening her eyes and their eyes locking for a moment. She could see the four turtles, but they didn't look the same. Their eyes were solid black, and they wore glares on their faces.

"Abby…" Leonardo spoke, his voice low and coarse, as he walked toward her.

"Be careful, Leo, she may have rabies! She might bite!" Raphael cackled, the others and even Leo laughing at the comment. She began to back away slowly, placing her hands slowly on the rooftop as her feet went backwards. Her tail was trying to wrap around herself, but as she was in motion it wasn't able to do so properly.

"Leave me… Stay away… Get away from me!" But she suddenly slipped and fell off the edge of the building. She caught herself, and looked down. There was a dumpster below her, and she felt something grip her arm.

She looked up at the black shadowy figure of the turtle, and she screamed and jerked her arm away from his grip and fell. She let herself fall into the dumpster, and then she jumped out and ran off and into the streets. She darted past a couple walking down the sidewalk, and then she jumped into the road.

"Abigale!" Donnie shouted as he saw a car racing down the road towards the mutant lizard.

Abby turned to look at the blinding light that was coming towards her. But she didn't see a car. In her eyes, it was the large black creature with the three heads, her mother and father and Danny holding a baseball bat. The eyes of the creature were bright orbs, and she screamed before turning and running down the large and narrow tunnel. Being on all fours gave her speed she was able to run for some feet. But as she looked over her shoulder she could see that the lights were inching closer and closer. But then a force hit her from the side. She was sent tumbling before a smaller version of the creature wrapped its arms around her and pulled through the wall of the tunnel.

"Let me go! Let me go!" she hissed, wriggling in the monster's grip.

But Raph wasn't going to let go, and he carefully tightened his grip on her as he jumped from wall to wall and held her as he stopped when he reached to the rooftop. "Abby, get a hold of yourself!"

"Raph, is she alright?" Leo asked, the other two turtles right behind him as they approached her.

Raph grunted when she kicked him in the leg. "I thinks she's just f- ACK!" He lost his grip on her when she bit his arm, leaving a purple mark when she released him. Leo gripped her by the shoulders while she kneeled down on her knees.

"Abby, look!" he snapped, pulling out the picture she had dropped. She struggled for a moment when Mikey gripped her shoulders so that Leo wouldn't have to hold her, but when her wide and frantic eyes landed on the picture, her pupils grew slightly and her trembling body falling still. She stared at the photograph in confusion, her head tilting slightly.

"Listen… It's me, Abby. Tell me, what are you so scared of?" Leo looked into her eyes, wishing that he could hug her without frightening her.

His voice frightened her, and she shook her head tears filling her eyes again before she closed them. "Daddy… Momma… Danny…. Leave me alone…"

He blinked and looked down at the picture in his hands. What was she afraid of? She wasn't too sure herself… her mind had been so scrambled… so mixed up full of these visions. She didn't even know where she was at that very second. He knew that they had to get her back to the lair and fast before they were discovered.

They had returned to the lair some time later. They led her to the living room, everybody giving her space as to not spook her. All openings in the lair had been blocked or shut, so there was no way out for her if she became frightened again. Splinter sat next to her on the couch, a hand on her back. They had blindfolded her, so she was much calmer now. Her knees were bent up to her chest, and her tail wrapped around them while she hugged herself.

"Abigale, can you hear me?" Splinter asked softy.

She just sat there, holding the picture in her hands and staring at it. She just stared at it, nothing said and nothing else done. Donnie was in lab, getting some things together to help wash away the powder on her skin.

"Is that all she'd going to do? Just sit there with her eyes glued to that photo all night?" Raph asked with a frown as he sat on the floor next to Mikey and Leo.

Splinter thought about it. He studied the girl beside him, seeing how her eyes never shifted, never left the photo. "Perhaps this photo is a way of soothing her mind… It may be a way to escape the horrors that she is seeing, and it may be the only normal thing in her mind that she can see. This photograph has a meaning to it, it is her family."

"So that's why she stopped panicking when I showed it to her… But I wonder what she is afraid of?" Leo thought aloud, gazing at the floor with his legs crossed.

"I think she's afraid of her family…" April said while she sat on the arm of the couch on the other side of Splinter.

"It would explain why she keeps screaming out for her mom and dad to leave her alone. But what about Danny?" Raph asked.

Leo frowned. "When… I took her to see him, she tried to show him that she was mutated. But when he saw her he freaked out and didn't believe that it was her. He had a baseball bat and chased her out of his apartment."

"Jeez, and you talk about me having anger issues?" the red-masked turtle huffed, smiling slightly.

"This isn't the time, Raph." Leo said dully, looking at his brother with stern eyes. Raph sighed and rested his chin in his hands. But then they looked up as saw that she had leaned against Splinter's side, still staring at the picture. He continued to rub his hand on her shoulder.

"I believe that her greatest fear… is not being accepted by her own family, along with the others around her." the mutant rat spoke softly as he gazed down at the mutant girl.

"But Sensei, she shouldn't have to worry about that. Aren't we her family?" Raph Mikey asked, looking up with uncertain eyes.

Splinter nodded slowly. "Yes, but we are not her only family, Michelangelo. Her parents are also her family, and when April had tried to ask her questions about them, her sadness for not being able to see her parents mixed with what fears she knew she had. Her animal instincts prevented her from comprehending the real world and distinguishing it from the mental world."

"I think I got the cure for her." Donnie said softly, holding a rag and bowl of what looked to be pink-looking water. Splinter looked down at the girl for a moment, and then nodded to the genius turtle. Donnie carefully walked up behind the couch, and gave him the bowl and rag. He placed the bowl in his lap, and dabbed the rag in it and began to rub her face with it. As soon as the pink liquid made contact with her skin, her eyes widened and she blinked slowly, looking distant almost for a while like she wasn't in her mind. Splinter continued to do this until he assumed he wiped all of the leftover powder of the mushroom spores off of her face, and then they waited.

She sat there for a moment, the picture lowered and her eyes traveling around the room. She looked up then, her eyes looking closer to if not completely normal.

"Abby?" Mikey said in a raspy whisper.

Her eyes darted to look at him, and he expected her to scream and try to run again. But she didn't. She frowned, and then she shook her head and sat up.

"Ugh… what happened?" she said in a groan, blinking her eyes slowly.

"You had contact with a substance that makes you relive your fears, Abigale." Splinter replied softly, his eyes calm and his expression concerned.

She looked down and then at Raph. Her eyes traveled lower, and her eyes widened when she saw the bruise. It looked like a row of teeth, and come to think of it, her teeth felt funny and she put a hand to her mouth.

"Raph… did I…?" she lost her voice.

He smiled and waved his hand at her. "Its fine, don't worry about it."

She looked down in guilt. Her visions were gone, but she felt the after-shock of what all had happened. She looked at her hands and saw the scratches, her feet were sore; her whole body was in fact.

April hugged Abby gently. "I am so sorry about what happened. I hope that you're okay."

Abby smiled weakly. "I think I'm okay." She hoped she was at least. She was still trying to figure out what exactly had happened to her.

Splinter had left them to speak in the living room. He needed to consult with his mind and meditate. So as he sat in his room on the floor in front of the picture of his wife and child. His eyes closed , he let his mind wander for a long while. He had hated seeing Abigale in such a condition. She was so afraid she didn't even look like herself. April had explained to him what had happened. All this time, Abby had been hiding her feelings about seeing her parents, or had given up on every seeing them again.

But what if he got them to somehow come to New York? What if he found a way to get them to meet each other again? That would solve all of her problems with her family. But there was still that risk of putting the rest of her family in danger. But if they were as determined as Abigale was, he knew that they would be able to accept what had happened to her, and accept her staying in New York if she wanted. If he recalled correctly, she had mentioned once that her parents lived further down south around Tennessee.

It was settled. He would find a way to contact her parents, and then he'd speak with them. One way or another, he would find a way to bring Abby and her parents together…


End file.
